


i hate hoping

by eatenpickelsticks



Series: Dream SMP Lyric drabbles [1]
Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF, mcyt
Genre: Alexis | Quackity Angst, AngryChild!Tommy, BAMF!Technoblade, Badass Niki | Nihachu, Baker!Niki, Blood and Injury, Bro im writing the plot of this and it was supposed to be fluff what happened, Child Abuse, Cussing, Farmer Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), Feathers- Free Form, Fluff and Angst, Ghostbur, Human Trafficking, Hurt/Comfort, Hybrid Discrimintation, Hybrid Technoblade, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Implied/Referenced Torture, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Karl goes c o u g h, Let's not start on Quackity okay, Magic Karl, Manipulative Relationship, Mind Control, Nicki's bakery is haunted by Wilbur now lmao, Non-Sexual Slavery, Okay it's not as bad as it sounds, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Relationships, Protective Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), Racism, Revolution, Sad Dave | Technoblade, Sassy Awesamdude, Slavery, Soft Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), Techno Nudge, Techno angst, Techno happy grunts, Techno's House for Fugitives, Technoblade has PTSD, Temporary Character Death, The Plot is Starting Bois, Touch-Starved, Wings go brrrr, hybrid quackity, kudos to collin, to a degree, two characters being dependent on each other and pissed about it, winged quackity, wtf was that stream btw Techno w h a t the f u c k
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:42:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 36,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27585581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eatenpickelsticks/pseuds/eatenpickelsticks
Summary: Technoblade just wanted to run from his past, too bad no one would let him do that.Quackity just wants to do something good, for once in his life....Two men run away from their past, whether becoming a tall farmer or following said farmer....basically 'sad farmer technoblade, quackity is pog, and tommy and nicki vibe, oh no theres plot now' kind of deal.
Relationships: Alexis | Quackity & Dave | Technoblade, Alexis | Quackity & Eret, Alexis | Quackity & Niki | Nihachu, BadBoyHalo & Skeppy, Dave | Technoblade & Niki | Nihachu, Dave | Technoblade & TommyInnit, Eret & Floris | Fundy, Eret & Niki | Nihachu, Niki | Nihachu & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), No Romantic Relationship(s), Ranboo & Wilbur Soot, Wilbur Soot & Phil Watson, Yah Nasties
Series: Dream SMP Lyric drabbles [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2021692
Comments: 608
Kudos: 1474





	1. Baby Hotline

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FrackFrickFrolick](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrackFrickFrolick/gifts), [Collin_I_Guess](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Collin_I_Guess/gifts), [Sataroni](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sataroni/gifts).



> I must apoligize if this is rough, I am still getting the kinks out on this stuff.
> 
> Also this is based on personas only, not real people. If any of the people are uncomfortable with this type of work I will take it down.

I contend that your drinking eye has never opened  
I insist somebody will die, and I hate hoping  
Wishing that the pills let you cry, and I hate coping  
Someday I will go back outside and see her, okay

-Baby Hotline by Jack Stuaber's Micropop

....

"Big G! You didn't say you were coming today!" The teenager was the loudest thing he had heard in a week. He could already feel a headache starting. 

If you don't look at it, it's not there. Ignore.

_You could shut him up._

Yeah, just ignore that too.

Technoblade died a little more inside, and this is why he hated children. He overlooked the teenager and walked forward more into the town, fastening up his horse to the pole near the entrance of the humble village.

It was quaint, small, and insignificant, but that was why Techno was here.

"Can I help you carry anything? Y-you got to see this thing I made, and Niki said it was awesome! It's this cool ass ax man, I carved this wicked shit on the handle-" The blonde was hopping up and down, practically doing circles around the masked man.

Techno could almost see the ax. It was probably crooked, and the blade dull. It would probably break with a few uses.

The village was peaceful at this time, and it's why the cloaked man even came to the area at this hour. Crowds made him uneasy, or just talking to people, in general, made him apprehensive.

The village made it easy. Techno could sell wares, give letters to 'Feathers' every week, and buy what he needed to without saying a word.

He never really had to talk to people before. He was more used to punching people in the face.

So yeah, he avoided contact with humans, even if it never avoided him. Especially with this dumb kid following him around every time he went to the village.

The boy was continuously so boisterous, and the man despised him at certain times of the morning. Just glancing at the kid made his eyes ache through the mask, a pulsation when the teenager would tell him about his day. Techno didn't know why he bothered, besides being a blithering idiot. The teenager was more likely to drop on his face than get the cloaked figure to answer.

Techno turned the corner, seeing an older man come from a building ahead of him. This village's Champion.

_Great, it's the fucking old leather face._

"Tommy, he is not going to talk to you. Stop being an annoying little bitch and come over here and help me carry this box, little shit." Tommy turned to the man who was carrying a box of jars. The man had a deep voice, raspy from how generous he smoked over the years. 

He also gave Tommy his dirty mouth.

Birch was his name, and he had aged like his shop, with time and season. The weathered man had watched over Tommy and the other orphans in the village. 

_Hehe, o r p h a n s._

"Don't talk to me like that! Cloak guy is fucking awesome." Techno knew that the villagers never trusted him, and he never gave them a reason to either. Birch just huffed and turned as Tommy helped him carry the box inside, almost running abound and wild a second later.

He just appeared one day, enveloped in blood and arms full of money with only the shit he had on his horse and misery with him. Birch was the first to see him, screaming for help when he saw Techno, thinking he was injured and bleeding all over his porch in the middle of the night.

So worried, but for the wrong thing.

When he realized that Techno, in all his quiet and shouldering height, was perfectly fine, looked horrified. The masked man had almost laughed at how instantaneous his demeanor changed.

Humans always change when they realize. Isn't new information.

Birch had never trusted him since, not that Techno cared. He could see the hesitance in his eyes every time the masked man brought his weekly crop to the village. See it in the way he leaned away, how he yelled at Tommy louder when Tecno was around, and when Birch would tilt away when he appeared in his proximity.

_No one likes what you are Techno._

Technoblade was pretty sure none of the villagers liked him much. Except for the bakery lady, Saw, to who he gave his best potatoes, she also enjoyed the carrots he brought. She was the only person he could stand being by in this village. Probably because she didn't seem to care what the hell he did anyway. Maybe she was the only person to enjoy his presence.

Besides this fucking annoying kid, of course. Techno wonders how far he could throw him when the kid starts talking about his ax handle in vivid imagery. Like he was talking about a battle in a war and not a tool.

"-and Niki helped me carve my name into the bottom, she writes all pretty, and I always mess up the letters." The kid was swinging a theoretical ax around, and Techno wanted to facepalm.

_Just hit him._

The cloaked man walked around to the wagon behind his horse, the black stallion huffing at Tommy as the kid confidently petted the horse enthusiastically. Technoblade wondered how he would react to the knowledge that Brick had bitten someone's hand off for doing the same thing.

Yeah, he was not going to narrate the kid that. Not with the emphatic way he was doing it, let him get bit, maybe he would stop following him.

_:)_

The boots on his feet made soft sounds as they crushed the rocks beneath his heel. The box he used to carry his products and possessions when he arrived in the village. The blonde bounding around him, a flash of white and tan. 

"Can I help you! I, uh, shit, won't drop anything! I swear." The man didn't even twitch to Tommy's request. Tommy himself didn't seem to be intimidated by Techno's cloaked appearance, face only seen as a mask. 

_Just kill him, for humans like him make it easy._

Techno just grabbed a box, ignoring the loud child. His breath stagnant in the mask, even if he was used to it. He's always had one on these days, for people are scared of what they do not know.

Tommy didn't hesitate to grab a box of potatoes after him. He tried to glare at the kid, but it was probably ineffective through his this black mask that concealed his face. He wondered if, could accidentally cut this kids' hands off.

"Look, I'll grab the other one. Maybe I can show you my ax later, and you can rate that shit. Like 1-5 type stuff. You look like someone who knows what a good ax looks like, Big G." He was grinning unevenly, skipping to the Techno's right.

_Fucking trip him, watch him fall on his face. Who the hell calls someone Big G. What does that even mean-_

"Tommy, you were supposed to help me feed the sheep. Leave the poor guy alone." Nicki softly said as she walked out from the store, taking the box from Techno without hesitance. Techno was always surprised when the girl would just take eighty-pound items from him, almost effortless. He had a feeling she had a Skill in strength.

She always worked with Saw in the bakery, soft in almost every way except when she was watching Tommy from afar, looking at Techno's every move.

Techno was half intimidated, to give her credit because he's seen the look before. Seen it in the eyes of people who won't hesitate to retaliate for what they are protecting. He's seen it in the eyes of so many people he has fought. She looks like a guardian for the boy, shorter yet towering above him.

One of the main reasons he hasn't cut the kid's head off, not like he won't respawn anyway. Also, the fact that the village was the only human life for miles. Can't go JFK, everyone, for no reason, regular people don't do that. 

Not that Technoblade is normal.

He wasn't killing people continually anymore. Not using his sword like he has been using the hoe the past few months. He hasn't been this long without killing someone his whole life.

It's jarring and different, but Techno kind of likes it.

He just rubbed his hands together, feeling off with the glove. He did not wear a glove farming, which made it feel weird when he was used to wringing bare flesh together when he was anxious. He sold his stuff to the shop owner because they had a routine already. Ignoring the happy teenager asking him questions and walking through town getting his items in a monotone way.

"Why don't you talk." Nicki had asked quietly. She had started walking with Tommy after they left the shop, buying things back and forth. Techno doesn't answer.

You see, the thing is, Techno doesn't really know how to talk to people he hasn't punched in the face before. And he isn't going to start now.

So he just huffs at the kid, and he can hear the town coming to life around him. Laughter spread through the air, and he can smell breakfast being cooked with his sensitive nose. 

It's about time for him to leave, and he has things to do.

"I um, you don't have to see my fucking ax. You are probably busy anyway, so I'll stop bothering you now! My bad, eh? Anyhow, see you next week. I guess. Have an uh, nice day?"

Technoblade hesitated, and he looked back at the boy for the first time he had known him. He could see the teenager pale as he faced the blankness of the mask because it was enchanted to be see-through on one side and plain black on the other.

It was probably frightening to see.

The older girl stiffened as the man's gaze landed on Tommy, and he could see her stare out of the corner of his eye.

The teenager is angry all the time, even if he tries to tone it down with Techno there. The masked man sees it in flashes of emotion when the boy responds. He's so eager to please anyone but himself.

He's seen it before, and he has seen it destroy.

Nicki smells like fresh dough and Tommy like wood shavings fresh from a tree. All different varieties mixed up in a pile and thrown in his face.  
  
He can smell them as he walks out of the town. Tries to forget the face Tommy made when he walked away.

It shouldn't bother him, and it doesn't.

It doesn't affect him as much as it should. 

Realizing how much he walked away from everything he wanted made him knowledgeable enough to know when he was performing it.

Techno was that aware of himself, after all.

....

Potatoes were kind of easy to grow, even if you had to watch for ants. They were generous plants, and if you gave them the right things, they would grow through almost anything.

He liked growing them, and they were simple.

Tending to his garden was honest work and wasn't easy at first. The dirt darkened his fingers when he worked, and his nails were black by the end of most days.

Technoblade always liked getting dirty, but he buried the feeling as deep as he could. He wasn't a fucking animal.

He liked it here, at his farm. Even if his only source of communication was talking to his horse, ignoring teenagers in a village, and writing weekly letters to an idiot.

It was peaceful, but not in a way that made him uncomfortable. For once in his life, he had somewhere he wanted to stay that was his own.

So he chooses to.

  
...

"Big G, BRO LOOK AT MY AX!" 

"TOMMY DON'T FUCKING HIT HIM IN THE FACE HOLY SHIT."

"I WASN'T GOING TO-"

Technoblade snorted and ignored them both.

Tommy, who hears it, grinned wider.

...

"BIG G LOOK AT THIS POG ROCK BRO IT'S PINK!"

Technoblade dragged his hand over his face through his mask and turned the other direction.

...

"Hi, What is your horse's name?"

"..."

"That's a wonderful name."

Techno wanted to fucking slap the kid as Nicki started laughing.

...

"Um, Nicki wanted me to give this- give you this-."

He watched the teenager fumble over his words, the guy making Techno nervous with his attempt.

He found himself having an armful of a covered basket as the kid blushed and ran away.

When he lifted the small blanket and saw the cookies, he knew Nicki didn't make them. Her cookies were flawless in the bakery, and these were on the crisps of being burnt.

Imagining Tommy tripping over in the kitchen with Nicki trying to get him not to burn the cookies made him smile before he could stop it.

Not like anyone could see it.

_But seriously, we shouldn't eat these-_

Shut up.

He took the cookies home with him, and when he ate the cookies, they were so sweet they stung.

The voice in the back of his head said it was still going to hurt him anyway, even if they had nothing in them.

Techno ignored it.

...

It had been weeks since Tommy gave him the cookies, and every time he went to the village, Tommy was there waiting for him.

He had asked him, Feathers, what he should give in return since Feathers, the ones covered in blood, was the only person he had contact with to even ask these things. He got the answer a week later with the letter he got weekly.

"Just give the kid something he likes. He sounds annoying as fuck, so he's probably already told you what he likes. Stop being an anti-social jerk. It's a teenager and not a fucking warlord."

Techno doesn't even know why he bothers sending letters to him weekly. All he has to talk about is his farm and the village. He doesn't even know why Feathers wants to still talk to him, after all, they've been through.

But he promised Feathers, something that you don't payback. And he also trusts him, more than anyone else. So, of course, he would be the person Techno would ask what to give a kid from a village in the middle of nowhere.

He didn't like owing people, even if it was a basket of cookies.

So he remembered the crooked ax Tommy had made months ago, and he goes to the mine. Getting iron is child's play, and cave mobs aren't near enough a threat to him.

Maybe it would be to the villagers who have the protection of the wards of a protected area and had never seen a zombie in their lives. But to him, no.

He spends a couple weeks on it. Sometimes he gets so nervous imagining giving it to the boy he has to pause because his hands are shaking so hard he would just ruin it.

He carves the kid's name in the bottom, polishes the handle, and carves a simple design into it. Gives the blade careful strokes to not crack the metal.

He wraps it up delicately, and he doesn't even know what he's doing when he gets to the village a day later. He can feel his hands sweaty underneath his gloves, and he feels hot with all the clothes he has on.

He walks into the village, and he feels his heart echo in his ears, and it's stupid because he is literally just handing a child an ax.

Which wasn't appropriate now that he thinks about it.

_Oh my gods, why are we giving a kid an ax._

Fuck this shit, and Technoblade turned around without even making it into the village. I don't have the mental capacity for this shit, he thought.

As soon as he turned around, he saw Tommy racing towards him with Nicki not far behind him.

When Tommy saw him, he lit up like a light bulb. He ducked behind Techno, and he blinked as the kid hid behind him. The kid had grabbed the edge of his cloak, and he was hyperaware as he raised the wrapped ax higher so Tommy wouldn't run into it.

"Protect me, Big G! She's trying to kill me!" Tommy giggled, and he was close enough that his smell was primarily overwhelming with his woodsy fragrance.

"Don't bring him into this, and just give me the spoon." Nicki scowled, but she didn't make a move forward. Intent on glaring at Tommy from where she was at with her hands at her hip.

"You have so many spoons. Just let me have this one!"

"Why do you even want it, and it is literally just a spoon-"

"It looks pog-"

Tommy's hand was on the edge of his cloak, so he felt it brush the back of his shirt. 

Tommy was waving a spoon at his friend, exaggerated, but the words were jumbled in his mind as he felt flushed. He couldn't hear what they were saying because of the blood rushing through his ears.

"G- Big G, tell her it's my spoon!" Technoblade just stares, and he doesn't even know why they include him in the conversation that he doesn't interact with.

"Fine, see who makes your food tonight!" With that, Nicki turned in a wave of calm anger. The blonde kid stayed behind him until she was out of sight.

The village was almost empty. More than usual, even though Techno can smell the hints of breakfast being cooked.

Tommy let go of his cloak and stepped back. The man released a breathe he didn't know he was holding. 

"I-I don't know if I should give this to you now, huh." It took him a second to start the sentence, the words stuck in his throat. His voice was dry from misuse and deep from lack of conversation.

He hasn't spoken to someone in months, and the experience makes him nervous. Forgotten how monotone and bored his voice sounded, and he kind of felt self-conscious.

Tommy stared at him in surprise, his mouth open. Looking like a gaping fish.

Techonblade watched Tommy's face turn from shock to pure giddiness as he grinned as wide as the skyline.

"Did you just talk holy shit balls! I told Nicki you could talk! Your voice sounds so cool! Wait, did you say give-" Tommy was getting louder with each word, and Techno could feel his ears twitch as he finally just thrust the wrapped item in Tommy's arms.

The masked man had a mini heart attack as the kid fumbled with it, and he had to hold back a whine as the kid almost dropped it.

_You realize how stupid of an idea this was now? He's literally the archetype of human diaster. You just gave him an ax-_

Nicki heard Tommy squealing, and he could detect the distinct footsteps as she was paced from the building over.

"Tommy, what in the world are you yelling about-" She stopped as she saw Tommy open the wrapped object.

The teenager was holding it close to him, carefully pulling back the layers and his face growing in joy as he saw the flash of metal. Technoblade felt something shift in his chest then, something so profound.

No one had ever looked at something he made like that, never in his whole life.

"Y-you, you made me a-" Tommy's voice faded out. His eyes were glassy, and his smile was wobbly.

_If he starts crying, I think I might just have to kill him._

He looked the blonde kid in the eyes and motioned to the ax.

"Cookies."

He could feel Tommy blink at him. Look at the ax and then back at him, with pure joy on his face.

"Oh, this is beautiful, but how long did it take you?" Nicki was looking at the ax with a small smile.

Tommy was screeching at this point, jumping up and down, and Techno wanted to take the ax back holy fuck-

"Tommy, go show Birch. I know he'll love it." Techno doubted it, but he could feel the teenage girl staring into his soul, so he didn't say anything.

"Thank you so much, Big G!" Tommy said before hurrying to his house. 

For a moment, it was silent. Techno could feel Nicki's gaze on him, staring at him like she was contemplating something.

"Why did you make him that?" Her voice was like an edge, sharp as a blade.

Technoblade tried to think of a better excuse than cookies.

"He worships you. I know your kind, I really do. You leave the moment you think something is about to go wrong. If you end up hurting him, I'll kill you. I don't care if you respawn." Her voice was soft as ever, even as she eyed him critically.

He knew that he could probably take her in a fight. Techno has fought his whole life, and in some ways, he won't ever mention in daylight.

He knew that she meant every word. So he just nodded at her, feeling more nervous than when he handed Tommy the ax.

"Don't be another person to just leave him. Whoever you are."

With that, she turned away, sparing him a final glance.

Technoblade could hear Tommy's excited exclamations buildings away.

The warm sensation rooted inside him grew.

...

He told Feathers that he made the kid an ax. It goes along the lines of:

'It was made of iron, which isn't too hard to get. Got it from the cave I told you north of my farm. Carved some design into it, looked like something you would've been into.'

Feathers makes fun of him in his letter back, 'aw you sappy fuck-' and more about how he was doing in the city, 'fucked some rich assholes up over in one of the big SMPs, you would've got a kick out of it.'

Technoblade considered burning the letter before he even finished reading it.

But he missed him, so he read the letter. He always did, and he put all the letters together in a box he had made for the exact use.

Technoblade was a sentimental person when he wanted to be.

If Technoblade went to the village the next day instead of his usual once a week venture, no one said anything about it. Even if he did nothing but walk around the village with a soft girl with the strength of five men and a boy who was too loud for such a quiet village.

...


	2. I Am Not a Robot- MARINA

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Technoblade wasn't good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The only reason y'all getting this update is because the streams killed me. I'm dead now.
> 
> Also, I guess a TW:  
> *a depressive episode of sort, depressed themes  
> *suicide Ideation? to a degree  
> *Technoblade chokes a dude, and not the segsy way  
> *mention of child abuse  
> *end cuddles

_You've been acting awful tough lately_   
_Smoking a lot of cigarettes lately_   
_But inside, you're just a little baby_   
_It's okay to say you've got a weak spot_   
_You don't always have to be on top_   
_Better to be hated_   
_Than loved loved loved for what your not_

_-I Am Not a Robot by MARINA_

...

You see, Technoblade had an idea.

Evil and Greatness are just a concept, just a perception. Just like opinions, ideas, and morals are deductions made by a single mind, yet so many follow the same ideals. If you think of the level of complexity in that, it's pretty humbling.

With that, Technoblade had an idea of what good was and what wasn't inherently valid. That still didn't change the fact he didn't know how to be good.

Thought and practice are two different things, after all.

He thinks it might be when Saw smiles when he gives her a bag of potatoes, or when Tommy lights up when Techno brings him rocks from the river that is always flowing near the village. They are many colors, almost magical, and Tommy loves them.

But is kindness just giving people things?

He remembers hands, so kind showing him how to braid his hair, teaching him how to cook, wind flowing around him, and someone showing him how to craft the metal of a blade. He remembers his father.

He doesn't like to think about it, and he doesn't.

So the next part of his reasoning was that being kind was more than gifts.

His idea of virtue before he stayed at the village was near to naivety. Feathers was unbelievably kind, as crazy as he was. He was always there at the second someone needed him. But being kind seemed like a waste of time to Technoblade, a false shelter for when people stab you in the back.

He didn't always have that thought. Techno doesn't like to think of that time. It brings up feelings that the pink-haired man spent years trying to bury.

And Tommy seemed so innocent. He doesn't want to ruin that.

_Tommy is good_.

So he sticks with rocks.

It just seems rational at this point.

So when he starts calling Tommy his actual name in his head, and he knows he fucked himself over.

Techno likes it when Tommy smiles at him.

He doesn't want to, but for once in his life, he actually does. It doesn't make sense, and it's a fucking oxymoron. But Techno wants to be here and run away at the same time.

...

Some days Technoblade doesn't bother getting up until the sun is in the middle of the sky. It's not on village days or farm days, but-

He only gets up to feed Brick. The task seems to be mechanical, and his body doesn't seem to be there. It's faded, and he feels cold. It's better on the days he goes to the village, not as much there.

He usually ends up on the ground, whether it's staring at the sky or a wall. It doesn't matter because he feels like he's in a cage again. He misses Feathers.

His arms feel the cold steel of metal even though they are bare in the open air. Legs feel chained to the ground, and he can even feel the squeezing of a muzzle if he turns the right way. It's not fair, he hasn't had a muzzle on him in years.

It used to hurt his tusks so bad.

These are the moments where he misses Feathers the most. When the only thing he can feel is his scalp burning from how hard he is pulling his hair. Trying to clear his mind from the constant ' _stupid, stupid, stupid, fucking monster-'_

The days he wakes up wanting to do nothing but die. He's always exhausted, but with these, he can barely move. He doesn't want to do anything, and it feels useless.

Eating feels automated, and he doesn't bother cooking anything.

It seems like it would be a waste.

It's not that he's sad; it's just hollow. Nothing is there.

He ends up the same by the end of these days, grabbing a sword and going out of the perimeter of the protection wards.

  
He went into the cave with only a torch and a sword on him. Does the thing that made him feel like this in the first place.

He's covered in monster blood when he finished. A trail of bodies behind him, and he has to see them when he walks out, snapped out of whatever had a hold of him.

Or he doesn't feel dead.

Technoblade was not phased by killing things, but it's the thing he knows how to do the best. Goes into autopilot.

He feels empty when he walks out of the cave every time, and he gets the impression that it is worse somehow.

The thing is, he's okay with it.

But he still feels cold when he walks out, even when the sun hits his bare skin because he had shed his cloak earlier. He didn't have his mask on, and it made him feel naked.

If anyone could see him now, they would notice that he was a Hybrid. With his tusks that have killed people out in the open and his ears out in the open, it's no wonder.

His head hurt by the time he made it back to his house.

...

He starts buying Nicki's cookies every time he goes to the village. She smiles softly and asks what he thinks when he tries the samples.

He feels like he's going soft.

The next time he sends a letter to Feathers, he tells him that. His messages are starting to include more than potatoes and updates on Brick. Techno doesn't know how to deal with Feathers' enthusiasm about that.

Or just Feather's enthusiasm in general. Sometimes his friend makes him want to jump off a bridge.

After Tommy and Nicki started giving him food, Feathers himself took it as a challenge. He was sent stupid gifts by Feather, such as a bracelet made from gold and some armor for his horse. He also sent different types of cake and recipes for Nicki to look at, which Techno just stared at because he knows Feathers can't cook.

He wonders if Feathers killed someone for them.

Tommy freaks out over the gold bracelet when he starts to wear it, which makes Techno snort in amusement. Then the man freezes as Tommy stares at him funny. Which made Techno feel nervous because oh my god, who snorts and-

It just made Tommy laugh. Techno quite nervously joined in, and at that point, he wanted to explode. He felt like such an idiot until Nicki joined in too.

"You're funny, Big G."

Technoblade was dying inside.

...

"What does uh Big G mean?" Technoblade voice sounded a little better after using it more, and it didn't itch his throat as much. It still seemed like grating metal to him.

"It means Big Guy because I don't know your name, duh." Tommy was nervously laughing at the end, hand rubbing his nose.

They were walking around the village, and Techno was only listening to them talk until now.

Tommy starts going off in a tangent as Nicki starts to mix the batter. Technoblade kind of zones off for a minute.

He forgot they didn't know his name.

"If you think about it, worms are useless, and they just sit there and die and get eaten-" Tommy started, staring at the worm like it had offended him.

"What are you talking about?" Technoblade asked him, sounding flabbergasted.

"Worms are fucking useless-"

"They are literally the most important thing-"

"No, they aren't, and they just sit on the ground like idiots-"

Techno considered stabbing him with the spoon he was holding for Nicki as she was making cookies in front of them. Humming and ignoring their little debate. They were in Saw's bakery, in the warm kitchen. He could smell almost all the ingredients separately and Tommy's scent in the air.

It was one of the most calming things he's ever smelled.

"Techno." The man just blurted it out without thinking about it.

_Oh fuck_.

"What the shit? Come on, worms do not have technology. Big G, my man, do we got to get your head checked?"

He could feel himself blush as Tommy looked at him judgingly.

"My name is uh, it's Techno. Technoblade."

Tommy just stared at him for a moment.

"What kind of stupid name is that?"

Technoblade just slapped him over the head with the spoon as Nicki smiled warmly at them in the background. Technoblade shrugged as he tossed the utensil in the sink.

"It's a good name, Technoblade." Nicki smiled like what she made, all sweet and covered in sugar.

They couldn't see Technoblade smile back.

...

"You can't read? Tommy, that's like a thing you learn as a toddler."

Tommy, who had just stared at the ingredient list like it was a zombie. Eyes furrowed, and his face flushed in shame.

"Yeah, make fun of the orphan kid who can't fucking read. Nicki taught me some, but I just-" Tommy faced away, crumbling the list in the pocket of his pants. He turned away jerkily, and he could hear the self-depreciation in the teenager's voice.

Techno paused.

"I could teach you if you want."

...

In his next letter to Feathers, he asks him how the fuck to teach someone how to read because Technoblade has no idea how to be a teacher.

Feathers just writes him to get fucked and that he started selling drugs to frame people.

...

It makes sense from an outsider's point of view.

Technoblade has always been covered in blood, and his first memory was shaking in a puddle of blood. Holding a gold sword, he could barely pick it up, the Hybrid surrounded by the stench of dead bodies. He didn't remember killing them, but there was a presence in his mind that left no argument.

_It was a slaughter._

He can still see the body parts everywhere, and everything was covered in blood to the point he could taste it.

He remembers being so scared. Not that it would change anything.

Technoblade has always had a hunger inside him, not the one that craves touch he doesn't deserve or one that he can fill with food.

It's a hunger to destroy.

When he stared at the blood sliding down the blade of the sword, he knew this is what he was born to do.

Technoblade has only known violence, and the only person who was kind to him was his father. The man who had seen him wide-eyed in a pile of bodies and treated him like a human.

_Technoblade wasn't a human_.

Feathers himself even, has killed Technoblade more times than he could count. He was the only person to make death seem kind.

Feathers killing him was the only kindness he experienced in the Pit.

Technoblade has returned the favor because he doesn't remember how many times he has cut Feathers down. Seen the light drain out of his eyes as he respawns. But he remembers cutting Feathers wings so vividly he could imagine it now.

Feathers was the only person Technoblade hasn't wanted to kill for a long time.

Technoblade has probably sinned to the point that the Gods no longer want him in hell, or at least he has a seat for him. He's okay with that. He's okay seeing the blood dripping off his hands when he's tilling a field even though nothing is there.

He's okay with being a tool of war and anarchy, and he really is.

The pink-haired man has always been okay with that.

( _He's not. He wants to make cookies with Nicki and Tommy until he dies. He wants to take strolls with Brick when the sun feels like an embrace. He wants to hug Feathers and tell him that he's the only person Technoblade has ever trusted. Feel feathers under his fingers._

_But he knows deep inside he never will.)_

So it makes sense that everything would go wrong the moment he was okay with being anything but that.

...

It was a typical day in the village, or it was supposed to be.

It was just a Tommy and Nicky day, and it was all Techno needed to visit the village. All he brought was Brick, in all his glory, and a recipe that Feathers asked him to show Nicki.

Brick seemed antsy, which Technoblade should've taken as a sign. He had a feeling deep in his gut, but he just shrugged it off as a sign of nervousness.

He should've taken it as a sign.

...

The horse's footstep was soft in the backdrop of the sound of the forest.

Technoblade could hear birds in the trees, even though he couldn't see them.

He saw the village, and he could feel Brick kick up on his own. Nicki usually had an apple waiting for the horse. Brick had been a little skittish this morning, so he was glad he was better now.

He knew something was wrong when Tommy and Nicki didn't greet him at the corner of the village where they met up.

He didn't' see Saw sitting in her rocking chair in front of the bakery either.

He was put on alert mode as he heard laughter he didn't recognize in Birch's Inn. He could catch Tommy say something, and a slamming noise followed after.

He could feel dread settle in him because Tommy sounded uncomfortable.

Technoblade walked faster than he has in a while to the doors of the inn. The wood a dark color, oak wood. He could smell someone he didn't recognize before he even reached the building.

The smell bothered him. It was a traveler, and he could smell faded blood. He could recognize the scent anywhere. Whoever it was hasn't bathed in days.

He opened the door to the inn slowly, and he could feel everyone turn to him. Tommy immediately hopped up and stood beside him, and he could see the boy's shoulders relax. His eyes landed on the figure he didn't recognize sitting at the counter.

He was probably a hunter or at least a mercenary from what Techno could see. The man had a sword in a sheathe on the stool next to him.

"Big T, good thing you are here, there's this weird guy-" Tommy looked irritated, but he was fine.

Nicki was standing behind the counter, and she nodded at Technoblade when he walked in. Her shirt was smooth, and she had her overalls on.

She looked so uncomfortable when the man sneered at her. Techno wanted to slam whoever this man was head into the wall.

The air was awkward, as Techno just stared in the doorway, and no one said anything. Birch was sitting in the corner of the room by the dead fireplace, smoking a cigarette that was clogging Techno's nose.

The man turned around, his hair short and beard half-assed shaved. He had a travelers coat on his shoulders, and Techno could see his hand inch towards his sword.

"What's with the mask, man? Got an ugly face?" The man had a deep voice like gravel.

_Wow, this guy has a death wish_.

"Don't talk to Big T like that, fuck face!" Tommy seemed to take it personally. The man just glared at the teenager, and Techno felt himself tense up in consequence.

"Shut up kid, anyone ever teach you any manners? Let the grown-ups speak." Technoblade could see Tommy bristle. Yeah, if this guy knew Tommy, he would know not to tell the teenager to shut up.

"Don't fucking talk to me like that-" Tommy had started walking towards the stranger, but Techno had grabbed his shoulder firmly.

Birch finally moved from his position in the corner, not liking this man talking to Tommy in such a way.

"Tommy, stop being a whiny baby." Birch said while putting out his smoke.

The man, in all his swagger, looked Technoblade in the face of his mask and studied him.

It was quiet as Technoblade, and the man had a stare-off. He had a feeling this guy was trouble.

"Who is your Champion?" Technoblade pulled Tommy behind him at the guy's words and a growl on his lips. The man noticed and simply turned around in his seat with a huff. He was facing Techno and Birch now with a smug look on his face.

Asking for a town, especially a small one where it wasn't public knowledge, was almost taboo.

There was really only one reason to ask for a town's Champion, and that was to challenge it.

"Champ-hopping is illegal." Nicki spoke for the first time since he had seen her today, and her voice was like ice. Technoblade thought briefly that the man turned his back on the wrong person.

"What are you all going to do about it! I could take you all in my sleep." His declaration was echoed in the room, and he saw Birch roll his eyes.

Every town had a Champion, or at least it had too. It was passed on by battle or direct contract. It was the reason wards worked, and they had to be tied to a place. The spell was cast for villages to be protected by mobs and pillagers around the kingdom.

It had to be planned, usually, for the Champion to change. Because it took a minute for the buffs to settle.

In big cities with walls, it was like a sporting event to challenge the Champions. It was a big commercial profit for the SMPs.

Champ-hopping was when you walked into a random town, usually small, and so they had no defense and challenged the Champion. Champ-hoppers were usually trained killers, so they usually won. They targeted small towns that couldn't get word to the capital about any unjust killing fast enough.

Champ-hoppers spent little time in the town they would take the title of, just get the buffs and leave the village defenseless when they left the borders.

They were parasites, and Technoblade despised them.

"Our Champion isn't taking any challengers right now, so you can take a room or go." Birch walked to the counter, his arms crossed.

"I think I will take the title actually, and if they aren't here right now, I could just start with you lot." With that, he had stood up in a smooth motion and had his sword in hand.

The thing is, the guy moves like he knows what he's doing. Techno is watching him move like a hawk, ready to relocate Tommy to safety and kill the man at a moment's notice.

_Do it, do it, do it-_

Tommy was livid at the statement as the man looked at him bored.

"You want to go fucker?! I could take you any day!" Technoblade had a heart attack and didn't hesitate to grab the teenager and hold him back.

"Killing is illegal without doctrine." Birch had said level headed as he glanced at the squirming Tommy.

"I don't see any doctrine here, do you? I should start with that loud kid over there, maybe shut him up for a change." He saw Nicki shudder at his words.

Technoblade felt a wave of anger pass through his body at the man's words.

Tommy started screaming obscenities as Birch tried to politely convince the man to stand down. Technoblade could see this going poorly.

Rip the guy's head off, and he looks so weak.

Tommy is here. _Protect Tommy, Tommy first._

Technoblade's instincts were screaming at him to get Tommy and Nicki away from the man that Techno himself could rip apart so easily.

But Techno doesn't want to kill in front of Tommy.

_But the Champ-Hopper doesn't even have armor_!

Techno could tell the man is starting to get annoyed at not getting what he wants, and the stranger throws the plate he was eating from against the wall near Nicki's face, and he can see her recoil.

Technobade has to catch the warning growl in his throat at the action. He can feel his body tense further, and he grips Tommy harder.

Without another second, the man goes to slash at Tommy.

In hindsight, he was dead as soon as he made the decision. Within a second, Tommy is thrown into Birch as Technoblade moves low and attacks the man by tackling him into the counter.

Techno grabs the man's sword with one hand as he wraps the other hand around the man's throat.

He's so close to him, he can feel the guy breathing, and he's so close to killing him.

_kill him, kill him, kill him_

The man's eyes are wide with fear, but that's not what he sees. His mind feels syrupy with the familiar feeling of blood lust.

"Holy shit, Techno, are you okay! Techno! Get out-"

He snaps out of it when he hears Tommy.

Tommy, who hasn't seen someone die before or seen Techno kill, is worried about him. The words feel jarring, and no one has ever told Techno to be careful when he's choking the hell out of someone. Tommy, who he doesn't want to cover in blood-

He has to force himself to let go of the guy's neck and step away while making sure to kick the guy's sword away.

The man is coughing and wheezing when Techno stands up straight. He can still see the man attacking Tommy in a loop in his head.

"Touch anyone else in this village, and I'll kill you." Techno's voice sounded so gleeful that both he and the man flinch.

Technoblade hasn't killed a human in a while. Not that he'll mind doing it.

"You fucking bastard, who the hell do you fucking think you are. I should kill you!" The champ-hopper can barely stand before he starts speaking. Technoblade feels disgust rise at this guy's idiocy.

Technoblade rolls his eyes and doesn't hesitate to drag him out of the building. He meets Tommy's eyes as he turns around and sees something he doesn't recognize.

He looks away.

The man is still screaming profanities as Techno dragged him through the small town. He can vaguely hear people opening their doors and looking at the racket.

He throws the guy right out of the perimeter as soon as he reaches it. When the guy tries to run, he kicks the guy's legs from underneath him and feels delighted when the man falls on his face.

"Listen here, I'll give you a five-minute head start if the mobs don't get you first. If you stop running, I'll use you as fertilizer."

He does give the man a head start, but as he watches the man run away like a headless chicken, he decides to not go after him. If the guy comes back, he could just kill him anyway.

He waits for a few minutes in case.

As soon as he turned to go back to the village, he sees Tommy running in his direction.

Oh, my Gods, why did Nicki let Tommy come near him-

"Tommy, why did you follow me, you idiot-" Techno started as Tommy tackled him into a hug.

Everything freezes for Techno.

He doesn't understand this. He doesn't understand this feeling that's settling in his bones.

"Tommy, I just, I almost killed someone, and why are you hugging me?" Tommy feels so warm, his arms wrapped around him. Techno can feel his body curl around the embrace without his permission.

Techno feels more comfortable than he has any right to be. He's a grown man (actually, the pink-haired man is 19), and the second the teenager touches him, he's gone.

He can feel Tommy shaking.

Tommy is talking, but his words are mumbled in the cloak. Tommy looks up with his eyes so blue that Techno is drowning and-

"H-he was being real mean to Nicki before you showed up. A right up bastard, you know. Then you showed up, and he was all being a dick, and then-"

Tommy sounded so panicked, and Techno could feel himself grunt softly, trying to comfort him without realizing it.

Technoblade didn't consider the fact that Tommy had never seen someone try to kill before.

Nevertheless, have someone try to kill you.

"I thought he hit you when you threw me. I thought you were sacrificing yourself for me, Birch wouldn't let me go, and I really thought for a second that you got hurt and-"

He just holds Tommy as he talks, and Techno felt like he was lying to Tommy in some way.

Tommy was good.

Techno was not. Techno was the opposite of that.

"I don't want you to get hurt for me, Techno."

Techno just held him tighter and buried his face in Tommy's hair. It was the softest thing he has touched in a long time.

"Tommy, I'm not who you think I am." He could feel Tommy just claw at his back harder as he shook his head furiously. Tommy reaches for his hands, and Techno stiffens.

The teenager waits for his nod, and he takes the gloves off with clumsy hands, throwing them Gods knows where in the forest. Techno finds himself not caring.

He stuffs his face in Techno's hands, and Technoblade shudders. His skin feels warm, and Tommy is like an anchor holding him down. He didn't know how wired up he was until Tommy hugged him. The teenager was squeezing his hands again.

"Y-you're Techno. The rest doesn't matter."

He remembers the feeling of choking a human neck in such detail, and when Tommy laughs into the palm of his hand when Techno makes a joke about his glove, he doesn't care.

Techno carries Tommy most of the way to the village like a toddle, with Tommy's legs wrapped around him. The teenager telling him about how cool the cake Nicki was making before the asshole stranger dude showed up.

....

Techno wasn't anywhere near the idea of a good person.

But this was nice.

He just knew it wouldn't last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone guess who Feathers is correctly, I'll post again by Friday. I swear it.


	3. I Brushed Hands With The Cashier and I Exploded Because I'm Touch Starved - Ethan Tan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tommy reads, and he learns.
> 
> Techno suffers from peer pressure from a toddler.
> 
> ...
> 
> :D
> 
> A wild Feathers appears!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also the next chapter will be like in a week, so that's that.
> 
> Does anyone want me to drop the playlist for this story? Since I keep referencing my lyrics for every song, for each chapter?
> 
> Anywho, enjoy >:D
> 
> Tw//:   
> *someone is a little insenstive about suicide, be warned ig,  
> *mentions of violence against characters  
> *referenced child abuse and brutality   
> *scars  
> *cussing bc tommy exists  
> *referenced torture of character

*The song is just piano music* -I Brushed Hands With The Cashier and Exploded Because I'm Touch Starved by Ethan Tan

"What the fuck is on your face, Tommy." Technoblade looked at the cut going down the teen's face with a frown. Grabbing the other's face with his bare hand as he looked at the tiny wound. The slide of skin was still alien to Techno, but he was starting to welcome it.

Tommy didn't care about the litter of scars across his palms and hands. The burns and slashes small compared to the ones on his covered arms, but still there, ruining the image of his hand. 

"Techno, stop being a mother hen, and I just ran into a fence." The kid was squirming even though he was staying still as Techno inspected his face. He was pouting.

Technoblade still can't get over the fact of how easy it was to touch someone. He spent years avoiding it, and Tommy explodes his expectations.

"Wait, how did you run into a fence? Why does it look like the fence won?" Techno said as he looked through the cabinets of the kitchen for a bandage or bandaid. Nicki was off doing something for Saw in the other part of the village.

"I just ran into it, okay? It wasn't my fault." Tommy was pouting as Techno deadpanned at him while patting the counter for Tommy to get up on.

"Your like, what, twelve? Just stop running into fences." His voice sounded bored in the air. Great, he found a bandaid in the container by the smoker.

"I'm thirteen, you asshole!" Tommy gasped when Teccho put the bandaid on roughly, throwing the rest of the paper in the trash behind him.

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go tell Nicki how much of an idiot you are for the second time today."

"Don't be mean, man! And my birthday is in a month!" Tommy didn't sound too upset as he hopped at Technoblade's side as they walked out of the bakery.

_Did he say a month?_

"Wait, are you serious? Why are you so short?"

"Fuck you!"

...

"So, who are you always writing to?" The adult ignored the kid as he handed the letter to the mail guy. Techno felt kind of bad for not remembering his name.

"He's an idiot." Techno grunted as an answer.

"You call everyone an idiot." Tommy just stared at him like he said something stupid.

"Fine. A Big Idiot." The blonde boy stared at him hard for a second.

"Did you just make fun of me?" Technoblade snickered at him.

"No, not at all." He said sarcastically and poked Tommy in the forehead.

...

Nicki looked at him with a wicked smile.

Technoblade felt his stomach sink. The last time she smiled at him like that, he had to wash chocolate powder out of his cloak for a week.

"I told Tommy that you're coming to his birthday party."

"That's fine? I was coming anyway." Technoblade said carefully.

"The whole village is going to be there."

Oh fuck, people are going to talk to him. 

He had been avoiding the villagers for months. He didn't want to deal with other people besides Tommy and Nicki, and it made him nervous.

Technoblade rubbed his face through his mask.

"Don't do this to me."

Nicki smiled wider.

...

He regrets it as soon as he sends it, stopping himself from running after the post guy who looks like he regrets his life also.

'The angry child is having a party. He told me to invite you. It's in a month. Please don't come.'

_Oh, Gods, knowing Feathers, he would take that as a challenge._

A week and Techno's worst fear was proven.

'BRO HELL YEAH I'LL COME. HOLY SHIT, I BET YOUR ALL SOFT NOW. I CAN BRING SOME OF MY 'STASH' IF YOU WANT ;D. 

  
OH, WAIT, FUCK IT'S A KID. LMAO I CAN BRING KARL INSTEAD- SAME THING IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT. IMMA BRING PARTY HATS MAN THIS IS GONNA BE AWESOME-

BRUH, YOU WOULD JUST SCARE KARL SO THATS OUT-'

Technoblade regretted everything.

...

"So he's sad."

"Tommy, he 'said' not he's sad. They are trying to murder a guy here."

"He might be sad because of that!"

He pointed to the text again and let his finger slide over the words.

"'Beware the Ides of March," Brutus said. "He's telling the guy to watch his shit in the middle of March."

"Why?" Tommy said, a wrinkled look on his face.

"Tommy, this story is about the assassination of a man named Julius Caesar." He says as he goes back to sharpening his sword as Tommy looks at the book again.

"But why?" 

"Tommy, the whole point of reading is to find out."

Tommy looked at him like he was about to cry.

"This book is stupid." Techno just snorted as a response.

...

The first time he takes his mask off in front of Nicki and Tommy is when he's baking a cake. And no, it's not like when Nicki asks him to taste stuff, and he turns around to hide his face and look like an idiot.

He pulls the mask off and just awkwardly sits around and waits for the two to notice. Tommy is just sitting on the cabinet explaining why Brutus is just an impressional idiot who is just a slave to peer pressure.

Nicki notices first and stares at him long enough for Tommy to look at him.

They just stand at a standstill, with Techno feeling like he was being judged in the pits of hell.

"Techno, I don't know what you're trying to do, but your hood makes it hard to see your face." Tommy finally said and laughing when Technoblade just buried his shadowed face in his hands.

"Fine, I'm just going to put this back on-" Technobalde started laughing as Tommy panicked at the sentence and rushed to see under his hood.

Technoblade acted like he was about to put the mask on and just pulled his hood down instead.

Tommy and Nicki stared at him harder, and the man felt even more uncomfortable.

"You have pink hair?! How?" Techno blinked as Tommy grabbed his head to pull him down to get a better look. He felt like a cow that was being stared at by the local butcher. He pulled his braided hair out of his cloak as well, letting his hair hang low around his waist.

"I had no idea your hair was so long, Techno, and how can you stand do have it under a hood every day?" Nicki said as she turned towards him, leaning back against the counter. Her hair pooled around her shoulders.

"It's itchy." He said dryly, as Tommy started prodding at his tusks. It was a weird feeling.

"What do you even need these for?" 

"Kid, I didn't choose them. They're just there." Technoblade said as he pushed the teenager's face from his, tired of the attention. 

"Sounds stupid." Tommy said.

Technoblade doesn't even know why he bothered worrying about this.

...

'So what are you getting the kid? What am I supposed to get him? It's his birthday, right? Also, I made friends with this fox mother fucker. He's an asshole. But seriously, what do I get the kid? I refuse to look like an idiot.'

Technoblade stared at the letter for five minutes before the words settled in his head. His hands brushing against Brick's mane as they walked to the stall he made for her.

_Oh, fuck._

Technoblade forgot he was supposed to get Tommy something.

...

So okay, the pink-haired man decided to deal with his problem logically.

The First Step, decide what kind of plan he was doing.

Maybe he should gather information first.

Nah, that's stupid because Tommy is a simple person. He likes interesting things. Acts all tough but then collects rocks.

So something shiny.

Second Step, use his logic to form a thesis.

Shiny. Metal. Ax. 

Tommy didn't use the ax he gave him, and he has it hanging like a decoration in Saw's bakery. And he can't just keep giving the kid weapons.

Shiny. Metal. Sword?

Techno had no idea what to give him besides a weapon. Or armor. It was all Techno could make besides food.

It was all he ever needed before.

His bracelet catches the light in the sun, and he thinks he has an idea.

...

The Hybrid hadn't had his mask on the past five times he was in the village. The villagers didn't care after Nicki glared at them for saying something about his tusks or being a hybrid. Or they were least quiet about it.

If anything, they avoided him more now, so it was a win for him.

"Techno, do you want to make a cake?"

He really didn't. He was intent on watching Tommy fuck up the cake, and Nick silently correct it when the kid wasn't watching. Tommy was now stuffing his face with buttercream icing that Nicky had told him not to touch.

The smell of the cake was almost so sweet it made him sick.

"I mean no, but I can help you if you want."

Two minutes in and Techno took his cloak off because Tommy was eyeing some icing that he did not want on his hard to wash fabric.

Four minutes in, and Techno wanted to tell Tommy to stop eating the icing before he just stuffed the whole cake in his face.

Five minutes in, and Tommy was spraying him with water from the nozzle attached to the sink. Instead of screeching like Tommy thought he would, Techno reveled in it.

"Tommy, I hate you." Techno's words sounded slurred, his ears relaxing on the side of his head. Body slouching as his shirt was soaked.

The water worked like magic on him, and Techno was so relaxed he didn't even recognize what was happening at all.

He was always gone when he touched water.

They were too busy watching Techno sit there with a happy expression on his face to notice they were making a mess everywhere. Looking like a satisfied puppy as water dripped all over the floor.

It was like he was in a trance as Tommy and Nicki stared at him, swaying back and forth from the water. He started making happy grunts noises that they had never heard before.

"So Techno likes water, that's new."

"...Tommy."

"Don't look at me like that; I didn't know Big T did that."

"Is this like a pig thing-"

The door slammed open. Scaring all of the people in the room.

"What the fuck are y'all doing." Technoblade squealed and hopped on the counter like a scared cat as Saw started screeching at them to clean up her kitchen.

He glared at Tommy for the rest of the day.

...

They were sitting in the little meadow when Tommy finally gave up reading the book. He had been learning fast for his credit. Every time the kid would learn a new word and would write it down in the journal Nicki got him. It took him a month to read the first act. He was always asking Techno how to spell a word or what it means.

Right now, though, he just sounded upset.

"So Brutus just kills himself." Technoblade didn't bother looking away from the sky as he answered Tommy.

"Yep." Technoblade sounds so bored, he couldn't see the teenager tense up.

"He said it was on more of goodwill than when he killed Caesar. He just decides that he's defeated and asks someone to kill him."

Technoblade looks at Tommy and can see that the teenager is furious.

"Yeah, he does. Cassius did too. Why are you getting upset about it now?" 

"He killed his best friend, and then later himself. He talks about honor, and all he ends up doing is dying."

Techhnoblade looks back to the sky and doesn't answer.

"He was doing what he thought was best." Tommy starts again.

The clouds above them are shapeless.

"There is nothing honorable about suicide." He finishes as if it was his point all along.

Technoblade slowly looks at Tommy, and he remembers staring at the wall in the mornings where he can't feel his arms. Remembers having to kill Feathers with no remorse-

"There is nothing honorable about killing." His voice was cold, and he could see Tommy's face turn into one that looked hurt as if Techno missed the point. 

Techno wasn't getting what the conversation was supposed to be.

The teenager is quiet for a while.

"It's stupid." Tommy says. Technoblade felt uneven, like he just messed with something inside of him under his rib cage. The teenager walks away without another word, leaving the thing he had just read on the ground.

Tommy doesn't finish reading the book.

...

On the day of Tommy's birthday, he felt anxiety settle into his gut like a bad batch of cookies.

Feathers was going to be here today.

He had mixed feelings about it.

He had Tommy's gift that he has spent two weeks making in a specially carved box that he also crafted. He likes to think that Tommy will like it, even though he's scared of Tommy throwing it back in his face.

Brick was calm as he walked into the town, and Techno could hear and feel him breathing as they rode down the path that he has made to the village.

He didn't have his mask on, and he wondered how Feathers would react to that. Since the last time they saw each other, Techno had found a cover and refused to take it off. Until now, of course.

He had missed Feathers so much he was dreading seeing him. 

He soon caught sight of the village gates, and Brick was huffing in excitement.

As usual, even if more happy than usual, Tommy came running with an apple in his hand. Techno hopped off as Brick went to go suck up to his favorite person.

Traitor. That horse is kind of useless now, and it's domesticated.

Tommy raises his eyebrows at the box Techno is holding.

"Oho, you got me something, big man?" Technoblade just walks past him, and he can hear Tommy sputter.

"Why, of course, Tommy, I'm not going to deal with an angry Nicki."

"Yeah, that's the only reason." Tommy's grin is always lopsided.

"Yep."

Technoblade waits for Tommy to tie Brick up because he has no idea where to go. And Techno refuses to be an idiot. He does that enough by just existing.

"Come on, Big T, I'll bring yah to Nicki. We were making this awesome thing called gumbo. Wait, have you ever had gumbo?"

"No, and it sounds poisonous."

"You will like it. Saw is making it today. It's really fucking good." 

"I'll take your word for it." The pink-haired man said as he followed the teenager into the building.

Saw herself was cooking a broth that did smell good, to the credit of whatever gumbo was. There were some presents on a table in the cafe part of the bakery and Techno went ahead to put his gift on it. Setting it down next to a blue wrapped gift.

"Hi Techno, how are you?" Nicki was wearing a pretty blouse and her hair up in a braid. Her shoulders rolled up from helping Saw in the kitchen.

"I'm pretty good." Techno huffed as Nicki pushed a cookie in his mouth as she walked back into the kitchen.

_It was a sugar cookie._

He liked sugar cookies.

The man made a happy grunt noise. He turned his head towards the people who had just walked into the shop and wrinkled his nose.

_Ew, a child, let's kill it._

As soon as the kid saw him, she was gapping and pointing at him. The mother hadn't seen him and was content to ignore the toddler and talk to Saw instead. He watched the kid get loose from the mom, and his stomach sank.

Please tell me this child is not walking towards me.

Nevertheless, with wobbly legs, the monster comes closer to him. Face set in a determined position as it got closer. Technoblade felt trapped with his back to the wall.

Once the toddler got to him, it just stared at him and through his soul. It slowly raised its chubby arms and made a grabbing motion.

Technoblade has killed children before. Murdered as a child, and he wonders how far he could drop kick this kid.

He just picks it up instead.

And he swears the kid is cooing at him as it grabs hold of his tusks. He wants to bite the kid as it starts pulling his long ears. 

_It hurt, and it'll be self-defense. Come on._

The unobservant villager finally realizes a stranger is holding her kid, and you can see the panic cross her face.

He just holds the child to the mother because he doesn't want it. She doesn't need to have a heart attack over that. It's drooling on him.

She hesitantly takes it, more like she's grabbing a bomb and not her child.

This is why Technoblade doesn't deal with people.

Then the kid starts screaming as she's taken from Technoblade's arms. Both he and the woman panic at the same time as the kids screeching, and the woman just hands the kid back to him.

He just glares at the woman, and she's not even scared anymore but just looking expectantly instead.

Tommy starts laughing when he walks into the room.

...

The toddler is fucking evil. A complete monster and it will destroy the world.

It's name was Hay. It's mother was watching him suffer in the grass in front of Saw's bakery.

Anyway, he's playing hopscotch now. Hay was throwing a rock and babbling as it lands on a square. If he steps on it, she starts yelling 'Bwead' at him. Every time he jumps over a rock, the kid starts laughing in the only way a baby can.

He hates this.

He turns and sees Birch staring at him with a smug look on his face.

"How the hell was I ever scared of you? You are literally as fucking as soft as fucking butter."

Techno laughs as the toddle grabs Birchs' pants leg and motions to the hopscotch on the ground.

He could see the man's face whitening.

"You can't escape. It has you in its clutches now." Birch just glares at him the whole time they jump on crudely drawn squares.

...

So, of course, in all of his dramatic glory, Feathers appears when he's slaving away to a toddler.

His wings were as big as the sky when Techno saw him. The breath in his throat getting caught as he saw the familiar white bear down on him. 

Feathers flew here.

He was tackled into the fence post as he hears the villagers shout in surprise.

The breath was knocked out of him as he felt Feathers basically attach himself to him. White column of feathers, coming down in an arch around them. He leaned over Techno's body with a giant, goofy smile.

"Techno! So, you're not wearing your mask? What the hell, you didn't tell me that! Now I feel underdressed." Techno felt his ears ring with how loud the other man was. The man who tackled him only in a flower shirt and khakis on. His beanie wasn't on his head, and he had 'flight hair' that was all over the place.

"How are you doing, Cariño? Hehe, don't hit me. I brought you some Golden Carrots, and I know you like them." Technoblade couldn't breathe as the man who had just pulled out and put the beanie on sat on his stomach and grabbed his bag from his back, taking a second because his wings got in the way.

Technoblade just looked at the sky, trying to figure out where he went wrong in his life.

"So, where is this kid I've been told about?" Feathers said as he threw the pack at Techno's face and jumped up, his wings following him.

"Holy shit, your Feathers? You are not who I thought you were." Tommy said as he stared at Techno still on the ground, having an existential crisis.

"Sorry to disappoint. Wait, did you just call me Feathers-" Feathers voice went all mocking at the end.

Techno didn't have to see Feather's shit-eating grin to know it was there.

"Aw, Techo, honey. Did you tell them my nickname? Aw, that's so sweet. Should I call you, Pr-" Technoblade shot up and threw the bag at Feather's face and cutting him off.

Tommy started laughing in that abrupt way he does in the background, and he can even hear Nicki giggle.

"Okay, I'll stop Princesa and dale; I want cake; where is it at? I was told there was a cake." Technoblade groaned into his hands.

"What is princessia, my guy?" Tommy said as he eagerly grabbed Feather's arms and dragged him into the bakery.

"It's Princesa, and it means Princess. Technoblade always acts like a moody princess. Anywho, hello little dude, I'm Quackity. You're Tommy, right?"

...

Feathers hadn't changed much, but he was different. Techno hadn't seen him flinch since he got here. He looked brighter in almost every way.

He looked happier.

"-So yeah, that's how we figured out Techno liked sugar cookies a week ago. Did you know he has happy grunts? That's what we call them." Tommy was telling the winged man vividly. They were all sitting at one of the tables in the cafe. 

The toddler had come back and passed out on his lap. And the mother with other villagers on the other side of the bakery with their own discussion. The kid was wrapped in his arms as all his friends made fun of him. He doesn't know how she was asleep with Tommy and Quackity screeching together.

Technoblade hated children.

Quackity was laughing his ass off, slamming his hands down on the table they were sitting at.

"Oh my god, Techno, happy grunts. That's gold, and they have you down cold." Quackity was gasping for breath at this point.

"I will leave. I don't deserve this." The pink-haired man was glaring a hole through the table.

"And wake the kid up? You big bully." Technoblade moved his glare to his winged friend. He felt kind of nervous with people he didn't know on his right.

Technoblade could see Birch walk up out of the corner of his eye.

"So kid, when are you going to open your presents? If I have to talk to Stick over there talk about his cows one more time, I will fucking ground you." Birch said as he walked up to their table.

"Uh-" Tommy started as he turned to the elder.

"Yo kid, you have to open mine first!" Quackity said as he pulled a package out of his bag and handed it to Nicki, who was sitting in between him and Tommy.

Nicki stared at the roughly wrapped package for a second before handing it to Tommy. It was circular shaped and seemed very thin.

"Yohoho, what is this? Should I be worried?"

"Nah, they are just easy to break, so I would be careful."

Tommy opened it, and Techno couldn't see over the toddler in his lap that he was bent over.

"Are these discs? Holy shit!" Tommy exclaimed as he opened the present. Discs were a rare thing to have and expensive. Techno hasn't actually seen one before.

"Yeah, I don't know what they play, so they might sound like shit." Quackity said as he smiled wide.

"I'm sure they sound awesome, Quackity" Nicki said as she handed Tommy the shirts and socks she had made him. He was still fangirling over the discs, but Techno doesn't think she minds.

After a bunch of yelling and the mother takes the sleeping kid from his arms, he's finally free. The villager literally bows at him and walks away with the demon child.

He doens't get villagers.

He has drool all over his shoulder. He hates children.

When Tommy gets to his present, he feels nervous. The young man doesn't think he'll like it. The more he thinks about how the teenager will react, the more he panics inside.

"Yo Technoblade?" The Hybrid stares at him intensely.

"Can I keep the box?" Quackity starts laughing harshly when Techno just breathes out a harsh breath.

"Yes, Tommy. I made the box for you."

"Okay, thanks." Tommy just stares at him more.

"... can you just open it?" Tommy blinks and looks back at the box. He giggles nervously and opens the small hatch at the front of the receptacle.

He slowly brings the charm bracelet made carefully from iron and gold out of the container. The metals are wrapped together as the band and charms hand from the bracelet. Even if they are crude.

He has the charm of an ax and a cookie. And also one of a horse. He didn't have any other idea on what to make besides that.

"Aw shucks Techno, that's pretty as hell." Quackity said as he leaned over Nicki to look closer. Nicki herself was gasping at it.

Tommy's smile was blinding as he looked at Techno.

He put it on, and Techno didn't see him take it off.

...

Quackity and Tommy are both explosive together, and by the time he and Quackity leave for his house on his farm, he's exhausted. Quackity lights up when he sees the horse.

"Aw, I missed Brick. " Quackity said as he started cooing at Brick, who was reveling in it.

It was hard to remember the time when his horse was homicidal.

Quackity was never silent, but he didn't say much as Techno walked them to his farm. Humming some song he wouldn't recognize even if Quackity sang it. Whistling in a way that Techno could never forget.

They usually didn't talk around each other a lot, and they never needed to. 

It's after they tie Brick up and sit under the stars as night closes around them before Techno says anything.

Quackity tells him about the people he's met. A ram hybrid that he didn't think Techno would get along with. A fox hybrid that he wishes he could shoot. A human named Karl is mean and kind to him at the same time. About a guy named Gogy. He listens to the tone of Quackity's voice more than the words, it's calming.

"I missed you." 

He says it while Quackity is talking, and he hears Quackity stop, and he stares at the stars.

He would never have said that. Before Tommy, and Nicki, and the constant presence of sweets in his life. And didn't say it before.

"I miss killing you." The statement is so jagged and soft from Quackity that Techno turns to look at him. Quackity won't meet his gaze.

"Sometimes I feel like I have no fucking idea what the hell is happening, you know? Oh my god, what am I saying. I don't want to kill you Techno, never have. I just miss when I knew exactly what I was supposed to do, even if I didn't want to do it."

He remembers killing Quackity, full of anguish, and just wanting it to stop.

(He remembers wanting to kill Quackity)

"I miss the Pit. How fucking stupid is that. How ironic is that, Technoblade? I miss the thing that hurt me the most, the thing I'm trying to destroy."

(They were always chained, white wings dragging on the ground and the other's hands chained to the wall)

"And it's stupid, it really is. It took me leaving you to realize that I'll never stop being scared of you." 

Technoblade tenses at the words.

They had wandered around together a while before Technoblade found the farm. But the constant reminder of looking into the face of the other made them take a break.

When they first left, he only saw himself killing Quackity when he looked him in the face. Now it's more subdued.

(he always looked scared, the pink-haired hybrid hated it. hating seeing the look on his face when he killed him. but that was a lie, and there was a part of him that enjoyed it. when the ringmaster grabbed him by the chin and told him great job, the good feeling made him feel sick, feathers would always quiver when he was near them)

"But at the same time, I don't trust anyone else, you know? Jschlatt is awesome and all, so is Karl, but they don't get it."

The winged hybrid is hugging his knees as he continues speaking. He wants to tell him to stop. Quackity's wings wrapping around his body like he was trying to protect himself.

(the guards would always tell the winged hybrid to shut up when he whistled or when he did a begging trill when they hit him. techno had learned how to hold his squeals back, learned the beatings get worse if he makes them

quackity didn't)

He would never tell Quackity to shut up.

Quackity falls silent after a few more confessions, and Techno is left sitting there with no idea how to respond.

He can't say he never wanted to kill Quackity because that would be a lie.

And Quackity would know that.

"You were the person I hated killing the most." 

Quackity smiles at him. They sit in silence for what seems like forever, with the careful way Quackity lays beside him. He starts humming a song into Techno's arm he has his face pressed against. Techno can feel the vibrations.

It seems personal.

"He's a cute kid Techno, and I think he's good for you. The girl is scary, though. I don't know how though."

Techno just grunts in response.

That's how they spend the night, sitting together like when they had traveled after they left the Pit.

Quackity had unbraided his hair and gently brushed his fingers through it over and over until it was untangled. He braids it over and over again, the songs he sang wrapped in the pattern of each wrap of the hair against another strand.

Technoblade falls asleep easy for the first time in a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you like the chapter? I enjoyed writing it so much. 
> 
> 1\. Can you tell I love Quackity :D. His wings are white because adult ducks, some of them, turn white when they are older. Not a lot of ducks are yellow.
> 
> 2\. DID YOU KNOW THAT PIGS HAVE HAPPY GRUNTS. AND THAT THEY LIKE WATER MORE THAN MUD???? I DIDN'T
> 
> 3\. Also, any questions? I'l be sure to answer any! Doesn't have to be about the story, and it can just be about mcyt or something.
> 
> 4\. WAS I SUPPOSED TO FIND OUT NICKY WAS SPELLED NIKI FROM A COMMENT OR WAS SOMEONE GOING TO TELL ME. NOW IT'S STUCK FOREVER
> 
> My beta for no reason: wE WIn ThEsE


	4. Cry - Ashnikko

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things seem to go downhill.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind of rough chapter ngl a h

I'm a tough bitch, but I'm sensitive  
Coulda, coulda, coulda quick fuck be a sedative?  
It's relative 'cause you were pushing me out to the fucking edge  
I'm about to rip all of my hair out 'cause I'm madder than I've ever been  
I just wanna call you, but I know I can't  
Fuck a fuckin' fuckboy, fuckin' up my plans  
Lay another finger on me, you could lose a hand  
You could lose a hand, you could lose a-

Cry by Ashnikko

...

Technoblade was never making fun of Quackity making nests again.

Techno had a problem. His instincts were going batshit. 

When he was younger, he doesn't remember his actual parents, he was touchy. Or he had craved it, the other piglins he had met avoided him like a plague. He ached when he saw them nuzzle their young.

His only physical contact for a while was when he killed someone.

Then he met his father, and was taught how to be gentle, as gentle as Techno could be, and he had labeled his father as his leader of the herd. He would always seek approval from him.

Then his father was gone.

And now, he was stuck with the urge to find Quackity and nudge the fuck out of him and smother him.

And the urge to sit in water all day. And sunbathe in a meadow somewhere.

It hit him like tidal waves, the hybrid instincts he had just pushed down over the years.

It wasn't a problem until he growled at the wandering traveler passing through the village for touching Tommy's shoulder.

The guy booked it and Tommy just stared at him like he grew a new head.

Yeah, Techno was fucked.

Quackity had been crashing at his place randomly the past two weeks after Tommy's birthday. He would be gone for days and just crash through his front door when he was doing dishes or something.

He wasn't even going to mention how many shirts Quackity has left around his house. Or beanies, like holy fuck how many did his friend have.

Quackity had surprised him many times by just appearing in his house without his knowledge.

Techno almost cut his head off when he found Quackity brushing his teeth in his bathroom when he woke up to him there. 

They just stared at each other, the winged hybrid giving him a judging look.

"Nice pajama pants, bro. Like the carrots." Quackity said after he spit out the toothpaste, not even phased by the fact Techno almost beheaded him on accident.

"Why are you here?" Techno grumbled as he just let his sword drop into the tub. Quackity's wings twitched as the sword clanked against the bottom of the tub.

Techno didn't even try hiding the fact when he nudged Quackity's shoulder in greeting, leaning down to do so. Quackity just huffed and then clucked at him.

"You know you love me, cariño." Quackity said sleepily as he smiled crookedly at Techno, who had bumped shoulders with him to reach the sink.

"Doubtful." Techno said as he went to wash his face.

He ended up brushing his teeth as his friend started singing a song about sunflowers in his ear beside him.

"This is not my tooth paste." Techno gagged when it touched his mouth.

"Yeah, this one tastes better, you are very welcome."

"Feathers, it tastes like shit."

Quackity gasped in mock offense while he told him how expensive it was.

…

"Teach me how to fight, I know you fucking can Technoblade." It bothered the pink-haired man that the teenager wasn't saying his nick-name as he usually did.

He had been asking the whole day. Only when he was out of earshot of Nicki and Birch.

"Nah." He didn't even bother being sympathetic as Tommy tripped over a root in haste to follow Techno as he was walking away from the village.

"Why not, I'm not just a bitch boy-" The teenager sounded irritated

Technoblade turned swiftly, his face impassive and his cloak swirling around him.

"Give me a reason." He said sharply. Tommy was just a kid, and he wasn't going to deal with a child's fantasies.

"It's not like- Big T I'm not asking you to teach me how to murder someone-"

"Except you are Tommy, that's what you are doing. Tommy, fighting is so much more than you think it is. Everything you learn will affect your life, and learning to fight so much more."

Tommy just looked even more irritated at what he said. His face crunching up in the effort to probably not start telling Techno all the reasons he was wrong.

Techno didn't have the chance to be a teenager, and he wasn't going to take that away from Tommy.

"Give me a reason." He said sharply again, trying to get Tommy to see what he was saying.

"How about- So I don't get my face punched in. How about that shit."

"Not good enough." He had to force himself not to comfort the kid when his face turned into one that was hurt.

Technoblade wasn't wrong, and he hated that.

...

Tommy was an angry person, he really was.

Even if he made Technoblade a better person, the man could see how much passion burned inside him.

So much it burned sometimes.

Tommy is so good, too. He gets mad when someone hits their horse in the village. Gets mad when someone calls Techno a name. 

But the thing is, Techno doesn't think Tommy could control it. 

The hybrid himself can't control his own anger, not to mention all that pours out of Tommy.

He could live with the guilt he has, but he knows that if Tommy had hurt someone accidentally, or killed someone, that he could not handle it well.

Tommy was good. Technoblade was not.

Tommy was a fighter, yeah, but he wasn't really a physical one. No matter how much he got worked up about things.

_It would break him._

All he thinks about is dried blood on walls, wings chained down in a cell next to him.

…

He didn't go to the village the next day.

He didn't really go anywhere the next day.

His mind was sludge as soon as he woke up. The impression of a muzzle on his face that wasn't there. Chains dragging him to the ground.

It was one of those days.

He feels like he's forgetting something, and he feels so empty.

He gets up, but he feels so out of his body that he doesn't know where he ends up.

Through the haziness, he has the thought that this is dangerous, and that he needs to get himself together.

Put together like cracked porcelain.

Everytime he tries to clear his head, he sees blood red cover his vision, and he's shaking with the effort to not do something, and he can't figure out what exactly.

He wants to stab himself with a sword, and slowly bleed out on the floor. He's done it to so many people he shouldn't mind. He feels like a fucking idiot.

_We'll, that's not wrong is it?_

Maybe if he respawns he'll stop feeling this way. But Technoblade is too scared of dying to ever attempt it. Isn't that ironic, a monster who is always covered in blood is scared of dying when it's not even permanent.

_So you want to have a pity party? Such a dramatic bitch-_

He doesn't know how long he stays on that floor. The cold wood on his bare skin as he curls in on himself in a feeble attempt to remedy his mind. He doesn't know where he is exactly, and it makes him paranoid someone will find him and kill him. A muzzle digs into the skin of his mouth-

_Not like you won't deserve it._

He can't breathe and his hands are numb in his hair, he can feel the pin pricks, and they are painful in his arms-

A loud noise jerks him and he can hear it through the wax that seems to fill his ear. Can hear himself make a slurred noise in response, probably an attempt to growl.

He feels so powerless as he can barely drag himself up on his forearms, the pin pricks aching with every movement. His instincts begged him to protect himself. Or to run.

He's defenseless, and he can't breathe because someone is here and he can't do anything-

Hands touch his face and he tries to fight it, the person is saying something, and he can't hear because his heart is so loud in his ears.

_So fucking loud._

Him and the person struggle for a second, and Techno can hear someone crying and a voice.

"Crying..How..Okay...Listen! Breathe!" The person wraps their arms around him, and he feels crowded. He wants to get away and he can't-

The person is rubbing his back and he feels something soft touch his face and the skin of one arm.

He's the one crying, the realization hitting him hard. His vision is still blurred.

Whoever the person is, they're still speaking. Just more soft and Techno can't help but bury himself in the shirt of the person holding him. It seems so familiar.

When his fingers meet feathers, he knows who it is. His body starts relaxing and his instincts die down, and tell him that it's safe. He can feel his eyes close without his permission.

He remembers with a clouded feeling someone carrying him.

…

  
When he wakes up, he feels different. He can feel the jarring clarity in the fact he's wearing a different shirt and he is surprised that he can feel his hair in a braid.

It scares him for a few moments, and then he realizes he's in his own room.

He doesn't feel empty anymore, and when his fingers fly to his face, he doesn't feel anything there. He still feels exhausted as ever though.

When he sits up he can see Quackity standing in the doorway. Watches the man's wings flex behind him as he shifts. He was probably watching Techno for a while.

He looks pissed.

"I feed Brick, the motherfucker was happy as shit. I also made you some eggs, Techno." The winged hybrid motions towards the plate on the dresser. His voice sounds sharp in the air.

The winged man watches him grab the plate without breaking his gaze. Techno takes a bite even though it tastes bland in his mouth. He doesn't know what to say to his friend.

_He fucking saw you have a fucking freak out that's what._

A slight sliver of dread creeps down his back.

He takes another bite mechanically, he doesn't really like eggs. He doesn't like a lot of things.

His friend is speaking before he can take another.

"How many fucking times has this happened." Technoblade tenses up as he sets his plate down beside him oh the dresser.

"What?" He goes for a more humorous tone, but it falls flat to even his ears. Sounds stupid.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Quackity sounds more sad at this point, and Techno has to stop himself from apologizing instinctively.

_It wasn't a big deal, it really wasn't-_

"Princesa, I would've came at a fucking- You know I would've been here in a fucking minute if you had said this was happening. This isn't like, damnit, Techno this isn't like before!" Quackity kicks the doorway as he pushes a hand through his hair, disarraying his beanie.

Technoblade crosses his arms as the duck hybrid yells at him. He feels like Quackity's words are peeling back his skin.

"Quackity, it's nothing, really-" the long-haired man starts.

The man in the doorway seemed to explode. 

"No it's not! I thought you were hurt! You didn't even react to me until I started screaming at you! Techno you tried to fight me! You were crying-"

"Quackity just stop, let it the fuck go-" 

"No! Fuck you, man! What the hell! Did you know you were begging me to kill you? Do you? What if Tommy had showed up? You were trying to fight me! Do they know-"

The man flinched as the other's voice got louder. He could feel the words burying under his skin.

_What if he hurts Tommy, who would just be trying to help him? And-_

He can't think about it.

Technoblade could feel his breath speeding up and he wanted to run. Like he always does, like a coward. His throat was sore, and he wanted to eat a cookie from Nicki and oh-

He grimaces when he feels Quackity's hands in his shoulders again, bringing him down to earth. Hear soft chirps in his ear as Quackity speaks quieter.

The black-haired man is warm.

"T-techno I'm sorry, please calm down. If you start crying again I might just throw myself into a ravine. Come on, my guy." 

Techno feels stupid as he starts hiccupping.

Quackity doesn't yell at him again, when he realized the piglin-hybrid would just start sobbing if he did.

He just lays beside him, and holds his hands to Techno's face. The pink-haired hybrids head eventually ending up below Quackity's chin.

He can feel him talking. It was peaceful, and he can't feel the drag of guilt in his gut anymore.

So Feathers just tells him about how he figured out his friend, who he called Gogy, was actually a prince of a neighboring kingdom and was actually named George. He was visiting the King.

Techno didn't know If he should believe him. He just settled for what he had been thinking the past few minutes.

"I'm sorry." Techno said, voice scratchy. Quackity stills for a moment. His hand trailing small circles on the back of the half piglin's neck. Techno nudges his friend's shoulder like he wanted to do for the past twenty minutes. It makes it easier to breathe.

Quackity just chuckles.

"It's okay Techno, I was just- I remembered you in that cage. You wouldn't move, and you were just begging me to kill you again. Princesa I don't ever want to kill you."

(t _echno was digging a blade into the boy's shoulder, he did it again, and again, and again, until feathers and blood covered the floor_

 _Kill me._ )

The ironic thing was, the reason Technoblade trusted Quackity like he did, was because he knew If he asked, Quackity would kill him.

Even if he didn't want to.

"I usually just end up in the caves, kill some mobs and I'm fine." 

He sees something close to regret cross his winged friend's face as he pulls back, disrupting the warm huddle they had made.

"That's not good, Cariño."

Techno just eats and doesn't say a word.

He stays in the bed with feathers under his finger, and he doesn't think about going in the cave.  
…

Quackity doesn't bring it up again, but he does come to his house even more often than before. He doesn't miss the looks he gets. 

Techno is down to pretend like nothing happened.

"Tommy asked him to teach him how to fight." White wings fluff in the air as his friend turns to him.

"You should." 

Technoblade just stared at him.

"I can't teach anyone to fight."

"Then don't." The man said in return, his wings stretching as he stood up from the couch.

"Being a little contradictory there." Techno said as he set his bag down on the kitchen counter.

"Just teach him a couple of moves. Why are you thinking this hard?" Quackity said as he fixed the collar of Techno's shirt.

…

  
Technoblade doesn't half ass things.

So when he decides that he was going to teach Tommy how to fight, he was like fuck it.

Might as well include Nicki, and go all out.

…

"You have to ask Nicki and Birch first." Technoblade started as he looked at Tommy. They were walking with Nicki down the path of the village.

"Huh?" Tommy looked confused and Nicki had tilted her head to Techno as he spoke.

"And it's only going to be the basics-" The man was interrupted by Tommy screaming.

"Fuck yeah!"

Techno regretted this already.

...

"So I want to teach Tommy and Nicki how to fight." He had spent ten minutes awkwardly pretending to buy something in Saw's shop trying to figure out how to ask the man.

He decided to be direct.

"I don't care what you teenagers are fucking doing. Get the fuck out of my shop."

Technoblade thinks it went well.

...

They were standing in a clearing, after the pink-haired hybrid told them to follow him.

"So what's the point of coming here?" Tommy asked as he studied the area around them. Nicki was just staring at Techno like a hawk

"Have you ever played hide and go seek?" Technoblade started as he took his cloak off and set it on the ground behind him.

"I mean, doesn't everyone?" Technoblade didn't bother telling Tommy that he didn't as a kid.

"So, one of the biggest things you should learn before fighting, is how to run away from a situation where you would do so."

He was met with two blank stares.

"The whole point of fighting someone, is to settle a conflict, right? But what if someone goes too far? You run, and you just run if you can in general. Don't get cocky, don't be caught off guard, and always be prepared."

Technoblade grinned too wide for the teenager's comfort.

"I'll give you a thirty second head start."

...

"Techno, I said show them a few moves, not kill them." He heard Quackity walk up behind where he was digging up potatoes.

"I just chased them down a little. It was endurance training." Technoblade huffed as he wiped his hands in his pants. His fingers ached from the repeated motion of digging up potatoes.

"They looked dead on their feet." Quackity said as he squatted near where Techno was sitting.

"Sounds like a personal problem." Techno nudged Quackity's shoulder, almost knocking him over int the process, wings flaring out to catch his balance.

"Techno! Don't get dirt on my shirt!"

"I mean it looks dumb anyway."

"Aw Techie, don't say that." Quackity watched Techno pick up his tools and gardening equipment.

"Something is going on in the underground." The hybrid's wings were tense, almost like he was nervous. Technoblade hasn't paid attention to the black market in a while, so he hasn't heard anything about it.

"Should I be worried?" He said as he stood up.

"It's talk of mutiny against the king." That had made Techno freeze in his tracks.

The king of this land wasn't someone Techno would probably ever talk to, but Quackity told him that he was a good king, or as good as one could be.

He was the reason hybrids were somewhat protected, the laws prevented hate crimes against them that was punishable by banishment.

"He's helping me take down the Pit, Techno." Quackity said finally, his feathers flattening to his back when Techno whirled on him.

"Damnit, Quackity that's so idiotic on so many levels-"

"Look, I know, okay-" Quackity started saying.

"Apparently not, Feathers _never_ trust someone in power, we've talked about this-"

"Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean I am, mierda." Quackity's voice was sharp and Techno could feel his mouth click shut. His face flushing with the tone.

Oh, he thought as he felt embarrassed. He saw a flash of guilt pass over the winged hybrid's face as he took in the taller man's face.

"Techno, you know I didn't mean that. Just look, I wanted to warn you. Something is happening down below. I'm just stressed and that's no excuse to take it out on you."

Technoblade decides to just hand him the basket of potatoes instead of answering, snorting when the winged hybrid squawked as he almost fell over with the weight of it.

...

They were in front of Saw's bakery, in the grass yard. Techno had a plan.

Teach them the katas and stances, and then they could spar in a week. Easy.

"Tommy I swear to god, you have to stretch first."

"Sounds kind of dumb, I'm good."

Technoblade wanted to drop kick a child.  
...

After a few weeks of it, with Quackity popping in sometimes and a couple of beat downs later, he finally realized something.

"Nicki."

The teenager looked up from where she was drinking her water at, almost nervous.

"You have a Skill related to strength, right?"

She scratched the back of her neck.

"I guess?"

"Want to use it?"

...

"Holy fuck!" Techno said as he busted through the wall of Saw's bakery.

When the dust settled, he could see Saw staring from behind her counter with an icy glare.

Technoblade felt a sense of doom.

"Techno, I'm so sorry!" Nicki said as she crawled through the whole in the wall she had thrown him into.

He heard Tommy start laughing when Saw started screaming at them.

Nevertheless, they spent rest if the day fixing the wall and they weren't allowed to spar in front of the bakery anymore.

...

"I brought music." Quackity sang as he tweeted softly when Techno basically head butted him at the door.

His wings fluffed happily when Techno let out a bark, something that was usually soft despite its usage. The piglin hybrid usually didn't do it unless he was sleep deprived to the point he couldn't hold it back or too happy to notice.

"Oh, hi Quackity, while you're here get this abomination off my chair." Quackity was mildly offended, but Technoblade seemed too giddy for him to get overly upset.

"That's my nest, please don't call it that."

"Wait, that's a what?" Technoblade blinked at the pile of clothes in the chair.

...

Nicki learned so well it kind of scared him. She had a natural talent for it that made Tommy pout for days.

He taught them how to lose a trail, and how to find one by just looking at the forest floor. Taught two teenagers how to knock someone out hard and fast.

He was proud of the little monsters he created.

Nicki was the scary one, though. She was just fast, and ruthless where Tommy was pushing. She would've been a force to reckon with in the Pit.

He could tell Tommy was getting frustrated at his progress, so Techno started teaching him the basics on the sword.

"Wait, why don't you have a sword?" Tommy asked as he struggled to put his chest plate that Techno forced him to wear for the exercise. Techno helped him with deft fingers as he answered.

"Kid, even if you knew how to fight with a sword I wouldn't need one."

Tommy blinked at him owlishly.

"You don't have armor on either."

Tommy looked like he regretted everything when Technoblade smiled at him wickedly.

...

Nicki was leaving.

She had been talking to Quackity for a while, and she walked smoother than she had before Techno had started to teach her.

So no, Techno wasn't worried she couldn't protect herself, it's just that...

She wanted to go start a bakery at the Capital.

She watched every stranger she saw like they were a threat, as he had told them both to do. Dont get cocky, dont get caught off guard, and always be prepared.

He had drilled that into their heads at the beginnings, telling them stories and facts for them to utilize like weapons at their disposal.

He enjoyed it, more than he thought it would. The Nicki had pulled him aside and looked him the eye and said:

"Technoblade, I'm leaving."

He blinked at the shorter female, not knowing what to say.

"I haven't told Tommy yet, we've always been together, you know? I want to do this though. I've been saving money for half my life for this."

Her smile looks painful when she hugs him.

"Watch after him for me." She hands him a bag of cookies like always when she walks him out the door.

They don't taste the same as he eats them on the way home.

...

"Techno, you've been pouting for days, what is it? Stop being a baby." Quackity said as he smacked the top of the bundle Techno had wrapped himself in.

"Don't talk to me." It came off muffled.

Quackity didn't say anything, and the piglin hybrid stuck his head out, his tusks more visible with the pout he was leveling at the winged man.

He mumbled something into the pillow, feeling satisfied when Quackity's wings huffed up in irritation.

"You know I can't understand you when you do that."

Techno glared harder, as ineffective as a mad puppy.

"Why didn't you tell me Nicki was leaving?"

Quackity started laughing so hard he bent over, he wings flapping.

"You're pouting because one of your chicks is leaving the nest, oh my lord."

...

Tommy took the news well, or he acted like it.

Techno found him later, hitting one of the practice swords he gave him over and over again on a dummy outside of the village.

"You done kid?" Tommy just threw the sword down, breathing heavy. Techno could see his eyes tearing up.

"I'm fucking fine, fantastic. Thanks for asking."

Techno just opened his arms to the teenager, who was rubbing at the sweat collecting on his forehead.

"So you are just going to let me stand here like an idiot then." Tommy huffed as he stepped into his arms. The blonde melting into his arms as he started crying.

"This is stupid, I'm being stupid."

"Nah, you are okay kid." Tommy just glared at him.

They stayed like that for a while, letting Tommy tell him about all the times him and Nicki had played together as kids.

"I'm going to miss her."

He thinks of warm cookies melting in his mouth and standing by an oven that warmed up the room.

"Me too, Tommy."

...

"My friends think I have a girlfriend." Quackity walked through his door as Techno was walking into his livingroom. His eye bags seemed to be bigger, which made Techno frown.

"But you don't." Techno said as Quackity threw a bag of carrots at him.

"What do I tell them, that I visit a tall, scary farmer who used to murder people, but now he farms potatoes?" Techno just plopped on the couch as he open the bag. He let out a front of satisfaction as he ate a carrot.

"I mean, yeah."

Quackity throws a bowl at him.

...

When Nicki left, it was cold. It was early in the morning, and Techno had woken up at an ungodly hour to meet her off.

Quackity seemed half asleep, buried in about three sweaters.

He doesn't like the cold.

Tommy seems unnaturally quiet, content to stare at the ground in front of him.

"I'll write you daily, Tommy." Nicki seemed sad, but she smiled wide at the person she was raised with.

Tommy smiled back, and him and Techno watched the teenager walk off with Quackity to the capital.

..

Months passed by as it turned cold. The village seemed less warm without Nicki cooking him cookies every day.

Quackity always brought some with him when he visited, but it wasn't the same. The winged hybrid seemed more stressed every time Techno saw him.

He doesn't know how to help him.

So he drags Feathers into the nest the winged man had made two months ago and just makes him hot tea fresh from a stove. Its alarming how much the man relaxes when he does this.

Techno worries about him.

...

Techno is brushing Brick's hair when he hears Quackity scream his name.

He jumps over the stall wall and is out of the barn in a split second, just in time to see his friend slam into the ground.

Techno can smell blood, and it makes him freeze for a second.

Quackity is hurt. He looks like he just went through hell, blood and dirt covering him.

When he hears a whimper, he realized that Quackity was carrying someone.

"Fucking hell Quackity, what do you need me to do." He didn't want to just touch the hybrid, last time he did while Quackity was hurt he had almost got stabbed.

"Techno, grab the kid-" Quackity was cut off as he started coughing.

Techno looked at the person in the man's arm and reaches for him without hesitance. The boy is so light in his arms as he leads Quackity to his house. The boys clothes were covered in blood, and he can see scars forming from his recent respawns.

"Quackity, we need to get insid-"

"They were just killing him Techno, jesus christ he was just a gardener. All because he was a fucking hybrid. They were at his spawn point, I couldnt just leave him there-" Quackity's voice was wrecked, and he was whistling every so often like he couldnt control it. His wings were shaking.

"Quackity what's going on-"

"They raided the castle. The Capital is being taken over."

Terror seizes Techno for a second, because-

"Is Nicki okay-" He hates how panicked he sounds as he slams his door open.

"Shes safe, she's with Karl, but Techno-"

Quackity stops for a second as he watches the pink-haired man grab the first aid kit.

"Get the kid first, I just have a scratch, I'm fine, but Techno the king has been dethroned."

Techno tore the kids collar as he tried to reach the wound on the kids shoulder, pausing as he took in what Quackity said.

"What?" Quackity looks tired as he leans on the counter next to him, his hands still shaking.

"Eret's been dethroned Techno," Quackity looks absolutely scared for a moment. "Someone else has taken the kingdom."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Ohhhhh, who dethroned Eret? 👀 Go ahead and guess.
> 
> 2\. SO THIS TOOK SO LONG BC I HAD TO WRITE IT ON MY PHONE SO IGNORE TYPOS PLEASE, I KNOW ITS ROUGH
> 
> 3\. Quackity saved someone, wonder who
> 
> 4.THIS CHAPTER FEELS SO ROUGH AHH IM SORRY
> 
> 5\. Shits about to start boissss. Also, I wrote a sbi foster family soulmate fanfic, would yall read it? Lmao.
> 
> 6.Next Up: Nicki's Interlude


	5. Nicki's Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> nicki did not apologize

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the comments last chapter!  
> ya'll make me scream.  
> I had a lot of things happen the past week, it was my birthday, and I had stuff go own where I couldn't write a lot, lmao.
> 
> Also, enjoy!
> 
> (THE CHAPTER AMOUNT IS A JOKE LMFAO OKAY I THOUGHT I WAS FUNNY)
> 
> CW::
> 
> *Mentions/Descriptions of Child Abuse bc I guess I'm projecting lmao  
> *Discrimination  
> *Gaslighting  
> *Fighting, Nicki has a temper and so does Tommy  
> *Nicki supremacy :D  
> *bunch of murder at the end my bad  
> *descriptions of blood and violence

_“But remember, boy, that a kind act can sometimes be as powerful as a sword.”_ \- Rick Riordan, The Battle of The Labyrinth.

...

If Nicki had to introduce herself, she would say something polite probably, then shake a hand or bow her head. Would ask how their day was and smile while she listened to over was there speaking.

_Soft._

People only hear what they want and will not see beyond a complexion of creamy skin with a sugary smile that melts icing on a cake.

And if Nicki accidentally brushes shoulders with someone or messes up a cake, she won't apologize. Nicki is not that type of person. 

...

Some people have Skills that activate randomly, some people never unlock them at all. Once unlocked, it would be in the Chat for a short while. 

Her mother's Skill was a boost in speed when sewing fabric. Like most villagers' abilities, it was mostly useless except for a specific thing.

She was cleaning a vase, side by side with her mother. The window was open to her right, and she could hear birds sing a melody from outside. As she was assigned to do, she was cleaning a vase. And she sets it down to move the flowers to a towel to get them out of the way. As her fingers go to grab the vase to rinse it under the calm stream of water from the sink, her Skill activates.

She barely sees the notification before she registers the pain.

The most memorable thing about getting her Skill is that the first time she uses it, she is slapped so hard she slams into the wall. There is glass stuck in the seams of her fingers, and the wood wall is harsh against her head.

Nicki was nine. It was Mother's favorite vase.

Her left shoulder had hit the wall with a thud and a flash of pain. Her cheek was so hot it felt like it was dripping liquid fire. The tears that sprung in her eyes were like the pressured air when you cut onions to cook a slab of pork. Her hands were cut open and ripped.

It leaves her mouth before she could help it, and she hates it when she tenses up again.

_"Entschuldigung." Sorry._

As soon as she says it, she feels dread in her stomach like a stone in a pool. She can feel her mother's eyes turn cold.

Her mother didn't like apologizing. Her mother liked the vase.

_"Sag das nie wieder." Never say that again_. Her mom's voice was cold, more than it had ever been. She doesn't understand why her mom, in her long smooth dress and hair pinned to her head, is so angry.

She didn't mean to do it. Her eyesight was blurry as she looked at the vase she had crushed in her hands, the glass cutting into her fingers as she forced herself not to start crying. The rush in her body was probably the only way that she wasn't panicking over it.

_"Das habe ich nicht so gemeint." I didn't mean it that way._

Nicki couldn't stop the flinch as her mother picked up a shard of the faded blue glass that littered the floor. Her face was impassive.

Her mother didn't answer, she looked at the blood falling on the carpet from Nicki's hand with an empty look.

She walked away without another word.

...

When Nicki looks in the mirror, picking glass out of her fingers and the pain overwhelming, she decides to never use her Skill again.

Her hair fans around her face as she lets her fingers sit under the cold water of a faucet, the water running red.

...

**Skill Unlocked:**

**Will of a Mountain- When you use this Skill, your physical prowess grows. The more you use this, the stronger the ability gets the next time you activate it, and so on.**

**WARNING: Will automatically activate in times of extreme stress.**

...

Nicki's hands are crudely bandaged as they cook dinner later, and her mother doesn't say anything about it.

Her mother does not talk a lot. She never has.

...

Her mother was not a cruel person, but she expects things to be done right. She is a quiet person, and Nicki has never seen her raise her voice from a calm stupor. She was strong in the way the sun is in the morning, rising without anyone's input.

People, however, are cruel to her mother. And her mother will not say a word, lets the villagers call her a whore, and sneer at the ground she walks on. But then again, it didn't seem to bother her mother at all.

Nicki does not like going to the village.

  
...

They have always lived alone, at the top of a hill outside of the village. Only her and a woman who birthed her, in all of their calm and faithful glory.

They cook Pichelsteiner when the weather is chilly, spiced with salt and pepper, and sprinkled with parsley by the end. A thick stew is made with vegetables, and her mom shows her how to cook it. They spend cold days side by side, her mother humming softly, but Nicki wouldn't dare to.

Her mother teaches her how to clean a house, how to fix holes in clothes. Any mishap is punished thoroughly, with a sharp tongue and a quick slap. 

She learns not to mess up fast.

By the time she is ten, she can sew without poking her fingers and cook without her mother's help, and clean the kitchen without a speck of dust.

They also eat Himmel, Erde, und Höllen, which is just apple sauce and mashed potatoes with a sausage on the side. It's a simple dish.

In some mornings, Flädle is what they cook. Never sweetened with sugar or vanilla. Her mother despises sweets, and Nicki has never really eaten anything sweet anyway. They use fine herbs instead, such as nutmeg.

Nicki remembers cooking the most in her childhood. It was when her mother talked the most, and not just in the German that no one in this server spoke. While they kneaded bread, her mother would teach her English, which was hard. Correcting her pronunciation while they made gravy.

It was part of her favorite memories.

...

The morning was calm, her mother was in a good mood. She was humming, and she even had smiled at her.

Of course, something bad would happen, and it took shape in the form of a man.

Someone came from the village, a man with a huge jacket and a sneer on his face. One of the angry people from the village, who didn't like it when they walked into the store to buy vegetables.

He was trying to get in the house, but Nicki wouldn't let him in. Her mother was in the garden behind the house, and she wasn't getting her.

The man was asking questions, but her mother told her not to talk to strangers, and she wasn't going to disobey her mother, and-

She couldn't understand him. It was making panic swell in her.

The man just pushed her out of the way and stepped inside.

He didn't speak the language she knew, just the one she was being taught. She couldn't understand what he was saying, and he was gesturing wildly around the house. 

She just kept shaking her head, and the man got louder. Nicki felt stupid, she wasn't smart enough to know what he was saying.

He started to rummage through drawers, pulling them back forcefully. One of them fell jerkily to the ground as he pulled it out of the cabinet. Clattering with all of its content on the floor.

He was ruining the kitchen.

She grabbed his arm without thinking about it, trying to stop him. 

That's when her mom walks in, and Nicki lets go of the guy as her Mom speaks in the fast language, her voice so much calmer than he mans.

Her Mom looks angry, and the woman moves in front of their daughter as if she's a barrier.

The man gets louder, her Mother still sounds calm, but she doesn't know any of the words they are saying. They mix together like mush in her mind as she lets herself cling to the back of her Mom's dress.

When the man leaves, plates had been thrown at him by her mother, and her Mom grabs a bag and looks Nicki in the eyes and says promptly-

We're leaving.

They pack food, Nicki's clothes, and they leave her Mama's beautiful glasses and plates. She doesn't know how to feel about it. She doesn't want to leave, she wants to cook again. Get batter on her hands or pick rosemary in the garden, but she doesn't say anything.

Her Mother would never listen to what she said anyway.

...

Nicki has no idea how long they have traveled on the horse, but her Mother is teaching her as much English as she can. Nicki just feels tired.

They are both light, so the horse can go far, but it needs breaks also. The chill of Fall has already started in, and she can feel it on her skin.

Her mother drills so many words into her head, and it's exhausting. Nicki is nothing if a fast learner, however. But her head hurts after three days of it.

But she learns.

...

She doesn't know how many days it took to reach the village her Mom was bringing them to.

And then, when they get there, her Mother leaves her in the arms of someone she doesn't know and leaves her. The arms of the woman holding her are like a grip of steel. She screams until her voice is hoarse, she doesn't understand what she did to make her mom leave her. 

The woman holds her as her mother rides away. She then grabs the bag of all of Nicki's belongings and brings her to her room.

The lady's house is a shop, some type of food that smells different from all the things she and her mom cooked is on the glass shelves.

The lady shows her a room, and Nicki locks herself in it.

...

It's so lonely here, at the beginning. She barely understands what any of the villagers are saying, and no one wants to talk to her.

She misses her mother, her words her cooking. The people here speak a language she can barely understand. They sneer when they hear her accent. 

She doesn't know what to do, she doesn't know where her mother is.

The lady, who she calls Saw, says she is her Grandmother. Through her father's side.

Nicki doesn't really care, either way, and she's never met her father.

She just has to wait for her mom to come back.

  
...

Saw is different from her mother. She tells Nicki to speak up, and doesn't ever put her hands on her. She nitpicks her accent.

She leaves her kitchen a mess and deals with it in the morning.

It drives Nicki crazy.

...

Days turn to weeks. Her mother doesn't come back.

...

  
Saw offers to let her cook, and Nicki does it more because she asked and less because she wanted to.

When she's kneading the bread to make cookies, and she watched them cook, she's hit with a realization.

Cooking has never felt like this, the calm waiting for the cookies to brown and Saw just sitting quietly in the corner.

It makes her happy, and she feels bad because her mom wouldn't-

Her mom isn't here.

When she asks Saw to teach her how to make the cakes in the front, she decides this is what she wants to do all her life.

...

Weeks turn to months, and she asks Saw what her father was like.

Saw told her that he was strong. And that his Skill is what got him Perma-killed.

...

Birch is this town's Champion, which is something Saw explains to her that every village has.

The kids in the village make fun of her broken English.

Except a kid named Tommy, who tried to beat the shit out of a kid for it. He does random stuff like that.

He was a new addition to the village, newer than her, and he had moved with his mom.

She despised him, he always ate cakes without paying for them and Saw let him get away with it because she thought he was funny.

He ate her pies, and it pissed her off. She was too polite to say anything, but she was intent to glare at him.

He glared right back.

...

She spends countless nights repeating words, getting rid of one of the only things she has left of her mother.

_She doesn't want to be an outsider._

  
...

Apples ripen from the outside of the tree towards the trunk. It's what Saw told her when she was shown how to pick them. You have to be careful not to pull on the fruit when taking it off, or move the branch entirely.

Grab with your palm and not your fingers, and you don't want it to bruise the fruit.

Don't throw them in the basket, walk down the ladder, and drop it gently into the basket.

Tommy is watching her, and she chooses to ignore them. She goes to pick another apple and it slipes through her fingers, and was going to hit the ground-

And Tommy caught it.

They stared at each other, and Tommy looked away to set it gently in the basket.

"Do you want to help me?" Tommy's response is loud and she can't but think about how brash he is.

Unlike how she looks and acts like, soft and a perfect young lady. She listens to him as Tommy talks about various things as he helps her pick from the lower branches.

...

It starts out normal, and Tommy is only a little moodier than usual, which she's grown to realize is normal.

He also falls asleep everywhere, the little shit. He's so peaceful when he sleeps though, so Nicki doesn't even bother waking him up.

But today, Tommy just seemed angry.

She is making a cake with him, and he just seems to stew. He's already messed up the measurement five times.

"Can you speak the fuck up? No one can fucking hear you. "

The thing is, Nicki, woke up and for twenty minutes she had washed her hands over and over again because all she had felt was glass burying in her hand that wasn't there.

She had burnt the bottom of a pie and messed up on a hard to make fudge mix.

She was not in the mood.

"And you can never shut up." She snapped at him.

She watches him raise his shoulders, as he took the insult. She was sure he had been looking for a fight the whole day.

Just the look on his face made Nicki so angry. So unbelievably angry that she just threw the whole bowl of flour in her hands at him.

She felt ashamed as soon as she did it, but Tommy was on her a second later getting the flour she had thrown all over him on her, too.

They shuffled through the kitchen, tangled limbs that managed to get Tommy pushed out of the kitchen as he tried to grab her shirt. Getting some of the mix he had on it.

There was something about it then, as Tommy tackled her and they busted through the door of the shop, and Nicki gasped as the back of her arms dug into gravel and dirt.

Something that felt like freedom.

He punched her in the face, she gets chocolate mix on her face she can feel it, and her head hits the ground. She screeched at him as she wriggled an arm out from under him and slammed her hand into his nose.

She wants to kill him at that moment, she's so angry.

She wanted to hit him over and over. and they were screaming at each other, Tommy calling her things she had never heard before, and she could barely hear him over the pounding of her head.

_"Fuck you man!"_ She said in her language as she pulled his hair to pull him back, kicking him away. Tommy flew back at her and-

She was still screaming at Tommy when Saw grabbed her, and she remembered her mom leaving and Saw holding her- 

She started sobbing, and she realized Tommy was too in Brich's arms.

... 

They made them sit side by side as Saw patched them up, both sniffling as Birch smoked a couple in the corner.

Tommy apologizes, and he looks down. Nicki doesn't apologize.

She hugs him instead.

...

They are inseparable ever since.

...

Months turn to years and Saw always keeps her an arm's length away, but Tommy becomes a brother to her.

  
...

Tommy is strong, he doesn't cry when his mom dies, he collects rocks from the river. He doesn't cry when he breaks his nose. He smiles even when he's sad.

Nicki adores him.

He hugs her at least once a day, in the morning usually. He smiles as he eats her cookies. She doesn't know how to feel about it.

When they fight, it's ugly.

But she always feels better after.

...

Tommy falls asleep randomly sometimes, he grows taller than her in the past two months, so she doesn't blame him. He usually does it when they are sitting in the meadow, her hands in his hair and his head in her lap.

Having Tommy's love is almost too much sometimes, if she thinks about it too hard she could start crying.

He's so good.

...

  
Nicki is shot awake when she hears Brick screaming for help. By the time she makes it downstairs, Saw pushes her back up.

She doesn't see what makes him do it, but he looks shaken when he walks back inside the inn. 

He tells her to not go outside.

...

"Tommy, he is not going to talk to you. Stop being an annoying little bitch and come over here and help me carry this box, little shit."

As soon as she hears Birch say it, she knows whos here.

He doesn't have a name or hasn't told anyone, but Tommy calls him Big G or Cloak Guy.

He's tall, and not a single inch of skin is open to the air or in visible sight. He walks silently and his horse is terrifyingly massive, which doesn't stop Tommy from petting it.

He doesn't speak, but for months on end, he comes back to the village to sell his crops. Tommy thinks he's the coolest thing ever.

She can see it in the way this man walks though, this man is dangerous.

So when he's around, she watches Tommy like a hawk, ready to activate the Skill she buries down in an instant.

Today is no different, she watches Tommy try to get the man's attention and carry his things and talk about an ax. She knows it bothers Tommy when the man ignores him, and probably more with how proud he was of his ax. 

She doesnt' hear what Tommy says to make the man look at him, with his face covered in a black void of a mask.

But she's ready to jump in front of him in an instant.

She just watches the man walk away though, leaving Tommy with a hurt look on his face.

Nicki starts to practice using her Skill more, it becomes easier with every try. It makes her feel better and more nervous at the same time.

...

Nicki starts finding the stressed feeling she gets turn into amusement as the cloaked man melts like butter.

After Tommy's antics, the man starts leaning towards Tommy when he talks to him. Facing him when Tommy shows him something.

He acts annoyed, but she has a feeling that the man is someone that would kill someone who was really bothering him.

So she tells Tommy to help her make cookies, he almost burns them, and go give the guy some cookies and watches the exchange from the corner of her eyes. She smiles when the man takes them.

...

  
Nicki wonders who the man writes to, and who writes just as fervently back.

It's the day that Tommy takes her spoon with a wide smile on his face that she realizes that the man can speak.

He sounds sad, but she just thinks it's the way he speaks. Like Saw when she asks about her father.

She tries to give him more cookies, trying different ones to see his reactions to each one. He sounds less monotone with every one.

...

The man gives Tommy an ax.

She doesn't know how to feel about it, but Tommy is so god damn happy she can't be mad.

He hangs it on the wall of the bakery and tells everyone who comes in about it. He adores it, and it's beautiful. She wonders how in the world he knew how to make it in the first place.

...

He talks more every time he comes to the village. Opening up like they have peeled layers up from his shell.

He has a harsh sense of humor, but he cares so much for Tommy, just like she does.

...

Nicki is filled with so much happiness when he tells them his name, Technoblade Technoblade Technoblade, and she's giddy with it.

...

When Techno throws Tommy and grabs the stranger that had threatened them by the throat, and throws him into the bar, she realizes what she had thought before.

The person who likes sugar cookies, who likes to listen to Tommy and to sit in the kitchen, is dangerous. He's a killer.

They may have befriended someone who would kill for them.

She remembers how fast he protected Tommy though and she finds she doesn't care.

Instead of killing him, he drags the man out. She can only stop Tommy for a second before he follows after them.

  
...

Technoblade brings back Tommy in his arms and his nails are almost like claws. The man holds the boy with such care for someone who could snap his neck all the same.

It might be the trick of the light, though, that she sees.

...

Every time Tommy has a birthday, Nicki tries to make a celebration, and she would never leave Technoblade out of it.

So she guilt trips him because she knows the man hates social events, and probably parties. She wonders if he's ever been to one before.

She feels proud when Techno agrees, knowing that he could just avoid it he really wanted to.

...

"Where is your book Tommy?" Nicki said as she watched Tommy walk in without the book he hasn't put down for weeks.

"I fucking hate it, that's where my book is." He actually looks upset, so Nicki tries to make her voice as gentle as possible.

"...want to help me ice the cupcakes?"

"Yeah."

After a few moments, as usual, Tommy starts speaking again.

"The book gave me a headache." Nicki hummed in response.

...

"Feathers is coming." Technoblade tells her, eating a cookie.

"Who the hell is Feathers? Didn't think you had any friends." Tommy asks with confusion, mirth in his expression. Technoblade just throws a cookie at him, which makes the boy laugh harder.

...

She just stares at Techno when she notices his mask is off, it doesn't occur to her that he took it off, trying to come up with a polite way to say to their friend that he accidentally took his mask off. She couldn't really see with the shadow from his hood, and she didn't really want to.

Technoblade could mask his identity if he wanted to. But he probably didn't mean to take it off-

Oh, she thought for a second, maybe he did it on purpose.

"Techno, I don't know what you're trying to do, but your hood makes it hard to see your face." Tommy giggles as Techno seems to shrivel in embarrassment.

"Fine, I'm just going to put this back on-" 

He teases Tommy for a moment, then pulls his hood down smoothly.

"You have pink hair?! How?" Tommy said as he stared as well. She was amazed at how long it was. Maybe she should grow her hair out, and if Techno could do it, she could, too.

He had tusks and his ears were, oh. He was a hybrid. Nicki didn't even think that Techno would be one. She hasn't seen a hybrid before, but she's sure everyone has heard of them.

The man seemed to be less uncomfortable as they didn't say anything about his face, besides Tommy being an idiot. 

Technoblade didn't seem to trust anyone, so she was glad that he trusted them both with this.

He has tusks, but they just make his smile seemed wider and his ears twitch everytime Tommy talks to him. It's interesting to watch.

...

Nicki doesn't see him put the mask on again.

...

Technoblade likes water, he likes water a lot. Nicki noticed that he does spend a generous time washing his hands when she asks him to, but she didn't think it was like this.

It was just a sink spray thing, but Techno was happily sitting in it like a satisfied chicken, face almost wiped completely calm and content.

She doesn't know if she should stop Tommy, Techno looks completely fine with it.

He was letting out a soft noise, almost like but at the same time different as purring.

"...Tommy." She starts, not really knowing what to do.

"Don't look at me like that; I didn't know Big T did that."

They sit there for a second, watching techno hum.

"Is this like a pig thing-" Nicki starts before Saw barges in, scaring the crap out of all of them, and Techno lets out a terrified scream.

Tommy laughs so hard as Techno glares at him.

...

As soon as she sees Techno on Tommy's birthday, he looks nervous as he stands in the bakery.

"Hi Techno, how are you?" She asks as she grabs a sugar cookie, and he likes sugar cookies the best.

"I'm pretty good." He responds, and he huffs when she stuffs a cookie in his mouth. 

...

She doesn't know who let Technoblade around a toddler, but he seems more terrified of the kid than the kid is scare of him, so she counts it as a win.

It's funny how gently he is with the kid, and she sends knowing looks his way.

...

The first thing she thinks when she sees Techno's friend is how pretty they are. His face looks delicate, but not in an attractive way. It was just a way to describe him, and it almost seemed offensive.

His wings are humongous, and they are always moving. When he stands with Techno, they tilt toward him.

The second thing she thinks is that he is just as dangerous as Technoblde. He eyes them, more of a secret way than Techno does, and studies them for a moment. He never turns his back away from them the whole time he's there. 

He's loud, too. Techno flinches sometimes when he screams in his ear, but he doesn't seem to mind it.

Quackity, that's his name. And he is a hybrid like Techno if his only feature are his wings.

He's jumpy, but he's bright like Tommy.

...

She never realized how much Techno has held back from them until she sees him around Quackity. Quackity never looks away from Technoblade when they talk, and Techno is always focused on Quackity even when he seems like he is not.

She doesn't know where they met, or how close they were, but they constantly included each other in everything.

She never sees Tommy take off the bracelet 

  
...

Tommy and Quackity get along like a house of fire.

Every time Quackity tries to help her cook something the kitchen ends up wrecked, but she enjoys it.

Quackity makes Techno laugh.

...

"NICKI OH MY GODS GUESS WHAT." Nicki drops the crate she was holding on the table, a loud thump echoing out. The box was heavy, after all, even for her.

"What, Tommy?" She made sure she didn't snap because she had been irritated all day. She will not take that out on Tommy.

"TECHNO SAID HE WOULD TEACH US HOW TO FIGHT."

She stared at Tommy, then shut the door in his face.

...

It ends up, for Tommy to do it, she has to do it.

It makes her nervous, to be honest.

So here they were. In a meadow. With Techno talking about hide and go seek.

She wanted to go back to sleep, she instead focused on Technoblade. He seemed really giddy, so he was probably going to try and beat the shit out of them or something.

Educationally, of course.

"The whole point of fighting someone, is to settle a conflict, right? But what if someone goes too far? You run, and you just run if you can in general. Don't get cocky, don't be caught off guard, and always be prepared." Nicki just stared at him hard.

Technoblade grinned with too many teeth for Nicki's liking.

"I'll give you a thirty-second head a start."

Technoblade doesn't look entirely sane when he says it, and it sends shivers down Nicki's spine. 

She has to remind herself that this is the man who eats sugar cookies.

Tommy was still staring at Techno when Nicki booked it. No thank you, she didn't even want to be here. She doesn't know where she is going, and she just keeps running. Every sound she makes seems like is ten times louder than it actually is. And she can't hear anything but her loud running through the woods.

...

She and Tommy get caught almost instantly, and Techno just drops them in the clearing as he rants about what gave them away.

Nicki didn't even bother hiding, she just ran. Tommy was too loud. 

They did it over and over again. Until Nicki just collapsed by Tommy in the meadow. Techno would go over everything they had done and offer better alternatives.

Apparently, Tommy couldn't shut up to save his life, which isn't new information.

"Techno, I literally hate you." Tommy said in between harsh breathes. Nicki just snorted at his comment.

"If you can talk, you can run. Want to go on another run Tommy?"

Nicki just groaned and buried her face in her hands.

...

She likes fighting or at least learning to. It's almost fascinating, watching someone for openings and exploiting them.

Techno is so careful to teach them the basics. Her and Tommy's stamina had doubled with the stupid chase thing Techno made them do in the woods.

He would go over every kata with such an intense softness, guiding her and Tommy with a smooth hand, and they did them so much it became natural.

She loved it, the way it felt to hit and move your body in such a manner and way and know what you are doing. Even her body ached in places she didn't know existed, and she was sore every day, it was exhilarating.

It took so long for it to seem like any progress was being made, it drove Tommy mad. He didn't see the logic in constant practice with no immediate outcome.

Technoblade was a saint for how well he dealt with that, she would have already thrown Tommy by now.

...

She asks Quackity before she tells anyone anything.

How much would it cost to buy a property in the city? A commercial one? Would she have to pay taxes for it? Does she have to get approval from the king-

Quackity laughs at her and tells her he has no idea, but he'll be glad to get information for her.

He stares at her then, intensely. Almost like Techno does assessing them.

He does get her information about it, a book almost as big as the cakes she makes. Just looking at it gives her a headache.

She reads it anyway, Nicki is nothing if not efficient.

...

"Nicki."

She freezes, Technoblade's voice sounded curious. She turned to him slowly, curious Techno sometimes ended with them chasing him in the woods for a week straight or jumping through trees, literally.

"You have a Skill related to strength, right?" She sets her water down steadily, hiding the tremor in her hands.

Tommy hasn't discovered her Skill yet, but she has been using hers more often, never to fight though.

"I guess?"

"Want to use it?"

...

Of course, she accidentally punts Technoblade through the wall of Saw's bakery. Why wouldn't she. Her stomach drops as she watches him go flying, oh fuck did I just kill my best friend.

She panics as she reaches in the hole, her fingers digging into the opening in the all, she can feel broken wood splintering into her fingers acutely, her Skill still active.

She doesn't really care.

"Techno, I'm so sorry!" She can hear Tommy laughing in the background, and Techno just groans and leans up to look at her in awe.

They all flinched when Saw lost her shit.

...

When she pulls splinters out of her fingers later, she remembers the rush she got from throwing Techno.

_It was addicting._

...

Nicki was leaving, and she and Quackity had decided on it in two months.

She didn't know how to tell Tommy that, of course.

Nicki has always wanted to start her own bakery ever since she had first made something with Saw.

She wanted to be good at baking, and she wanted people to know her name.

And she was willing to go to the Capitol for that.

There is a part of her that doesn't want to go, the part that cards her fingers through Tommy's hair when he's asleep and braid Techno's hair in the afternoons.

...

She decides to tell Techno first because Saw doesn't really care, which doesn't bother her as much as it used to. Tommy was the only reason she hadn't left this place ages ago.

"Technoblade, I'm leaving." Tommy wasn't there, when she told him.

The man blinked at her, his posture stilling as he stared at her. His face turning in confusion.

"I haven't told Tommy yet, we've always been together, you know? I want to do this. I've been saving money for half my life for this."

TEchnoblade stares at her harder before she pulls him into a hug. She can feel him nudge the top of her head in response, almost like he doesn't realize he does it.

He looks sad when she pulls away. His head is bowed in thought, and they stand in the warmth and silence of the bakery for a moment.

"Watch after him for me." She doesn't know why she bothers telling him, she knows he will. It's why she was okay with leaving Tommy here in the first place.

...

"Tommy, I'm going to the Capitol."

Tommy hums around with a cookie in his mouth. He grabs it out of his mouth as he whips to her.

"Why are we going to the capitol? Is Technoblade coming? Holy shit, can I buy shit?" He looked excited, and it made Nicki stiffen.

"Tommy, I'm going to go start a bakery in the Capitol."

His face dropped fast and turned into one of bewilderment.

"We can't just leave, what about Techno?"

"Tommy, Techno is staying here with you."

Tommy's eyes widen as he catches her meanings.

"You're leaving me, you're fucking leaving me." He sounds pissed, which is Tommy for upset.

"Tommy, no-"

"No, you're fucking leaving me? You're fucking leaving! Why can't you just make a bakery here? Why are you going-"

"Tommy it isn't about you, can you stop and listen-"

"So I don't fucking matter? Fuck you," He slams the door out of the shop before she can tell him anything else.

She can't help but to feel he's right, she is just leaving him. Like everyone else in his life has.

She starts crying by the stove before she can help it, she doesn't like it when Tommy is upset.

Her face gets red when she cries, and it's embarrassing, so she's glad no one sees.

But then again she's someone no one notices, soft and forgettable. She never leaves a sign she was ever there.

...

When Tommy comes back in, his eyes are as red as hers, he sniffles at her when he sits in front of her. Deciding on what to say.

"I'm sorry." Nicki doesn't apologize back, but stares.

"You know, you have to come to visit me, right?" Nicki says as she hugs Tommy, who has been taller than her for a while.

"Yeah, you better send me shit, or I'll go to the Capitol to yell at you." 

"I promise, Tommy. And Tommy, I'll have a place for you there, if you need to come to Tommy. I'll make sure of it."

...

She doesn't have much to take with her, clothes and maybe some bowls.

Tommy gives her one of his discs, and she almost hands it back. It makes Tomy happier when she takes it, so she does. She wraps it carefully in her pack, and every time she sees it she thinks of Tommy laughing.

...

It's cold when she leaves, the edge of autumn approaching.

Techno and Tommy are half asleep, seeing her off. She is still happy nevertheless.

She's going to the Capitol today, she is as nervous as she is excited.

"I'll miss you Tommy."

"I'll miss you Nicki."

They smile at each other, and she hugs him hard.

Tommy is screaming bye at her until she's out of sight.

...

Quackity speaks a different language, almost like her.

He looks so happy as she speaks to him the whole time they walk. He softly responds in a language she can't recognize, and it's so-

beautiful.

He seems shocked when she responds in the language she hasn't spoken in years, but he grins wide as he offers her a flask of water.

"Where did you learn to speak that, Quackity?"

He laughs.

"I was born in another server, where everyone spoke my tongue. Imagine my surprise when I landed in this joint with no idea what anyone was saying."

Nicki like Quackity, she decides.

  
...

The Capitol was overwhelming. There was so much noise everywhere, Quackity was basically dragging her through the crowd so she wouldn't get lost.

There was music everywhere, so many people, and so many different smells.

She fell in love instantly, watching people walking and running around with their lives, so much to do.

...

Quackity got her an audience with the King almost with no time.

The palace was dark colored, but it was huge and luxurious. Flags with many colors hanging on the walls.

"Shouldn't we wait in line-"

"Don't worry, you have a Quackity, I can get you in no sweat."

"Wait-"

Quackity didn't give her a second as he dragger her, wings fluffing behind him, into the throne room.

And right in the middle of King Eret having an audience with a group of men.

Nicki wanted to die as everyone in the room looked at them.

"Quackity, nice to see you!" The King said as he rose from his throne, motioning the men away with his hands. They followed suit without a word, to Nicki's amazement.

"You know the person I told you about? Yeah, we want to buy a property." Oh my gods, she was going to die in sheer embarrassment.

"Of course! If Quackity vouches for you, then I'm glad to offer you citizenship and a right to buy a property." She squeaked when he threw a scroll at her in a smooth motion.

"Thanks Eret, I'll see you later."

Nicki is out of the palace before she even knows what happened.

...

"Nicki, please to god don't choose this one."

"Why? It's perfect." She said out of breath as she looked around the empty building. It used to be an old shop, so it had counters and even a kitchen. It was cozy and reminded her of Saw's place.

"Nicki, this place is haunted."

She laughs at what he says, not seeing the serious look on his face.

"I'll buy it."

...

It apparently takes a lot to make a place into a bakery.

"Nicki, this is Awesamdude, or just Sam. He's gonna do everything because we're idiots." Quackity said as he walked into the building, still wary of it.

Sam had a piece of paper over his face, she didn't bother saying anything about it. His skin was mottled green from what she could see though. Maybe he was a hybrid, he sure looked inhuman. Sometimes he hissed when people got near him.

She nods, because she's covered in paint from the inside of the house and she kind of just wants to fall down on the ground and die.

"Let's leave this guy to it, you Nicki, ever had an Enchilada? Let's go get some Enchilada's." Quackity is her new favorite person.

...

It took a week for everything to work in the bakery. Sam was a miracle worker, she even had a fridge now. She hugs him, it's weird because he is so tall but it works.

She tells him that he is literally a saint and he can get anything he wants from her bakery for free, _because holy shit she has a fridge._

"I could marry you." She said as she made him brownies to bring home with him.

"Uh, you don't have to make me anything-"

"Shut up and take the brownies Mr. Encyclopedia."

She eventually bullied him into taking the brownies, then she sat down to write Tommy and Techno to tell them about it all.

...

Someone was in her kitchen. She had just woken up, she stayed in the loft above the Bakery, and almost screamed when she saw a man in front of her stove.

"Who are you?" The thing is, the person looks so soft. Yellow sweater and faded colors covering him. His hair falls from his head like wisps of clouds. His face was serene, and Nicki paused because- 

She had never seen someone so pretty. Quackity was pretty, the King was pretty, but the person in front of her glowed. 

"I'm Wilbur, and you're in my house." His voice was smooth and was surprisingly kind. He smiled at her. Her heart stopped, was she about to get murdered- 

She looked around her shop. Oh god, her face was flushing. 

"Uh-" 

The person turned, and her breath hitched as he looked almost transparent for a moment. He dragged his hand across the cabinet as he said the next words.

"It's okay, I'm dead so it doesn't matter anymore. You are very pretty by the way, my name is Wilbur."

Oh fuck, Nicki thought. She remembers what Quackity said about this place being haunted.

...

There is a person that keeps visiting the shop the first week it's open. She's busy, busier than she had ever been trying to make business, but-

He is half black and white, split, he's taller than the door when he walks in, and he eats three cakes every time he comes in. There is something about him that is like Wilbur, in the sense it seems inhuman. Like Sam.

Wilbur has been playing the guitar in the back for a while now. It sounds calming as she tries to not think about it. She doesn't need to have another mental breakdown. No one notices, they think she put a music disc in.

Anywho, the guy with split colored skin was shy.

He looks like he wants to say something, but he just stares at the cakes every time she tries to talk to him. For such a tall person he shifts on his feet a lot and-

He reminds her of Technoblade, a shy, tall, scary person that likes cake. She spills a glass of water and he hissed at it, so he probably doesn't like water, a major difference from Techno. The villagers glare at him like they glare at Quackity when he walks in. She doesn't really care to know why, but she can assume it's his looks.

She can see callouses on his fingers when he grabs the cakes from her, so she knows that he does something with his hands. With the scar on his face, she would bet it was fighting.

He finally gets the guts to talk to her about the fifth time he went there.

"My name is Nicki." She said as she handed him some simple chocolate cake with strawberries on the top. The icing had honey in it.

"Uh, Ranboo, and uh."

Nicki waits for him to speak as he wrings his fingers.

"Is the offer in front of the store open." Nicki stares at him for a moment in confusion, which makes the guy seem more nervous.

"Oh! You mean the opening in a position! Of course!" She said as she reached for the papers under the counter. It was hard to get them printed, but Quackity's human friend helped her get them. She thinks his name was Karl.

"When can you start?

...

She realizes why he's nervous all the time when he phases through the cabinet the first time he works there.

"Ranboo." Is all she says as she watches him face plant on the floor.

"Ah, shit, ignore me, ahaha, it happens all the time."

"Did he just teleport?" Wibur says as he appears behind her, shocking Nicki as she lets out a silent scream.

"Nicki, oh my gods there is a ghost!"

...

The next time Quackity comes to her Bakery, and he was dragging a man with red ears poking out of fluffy hair and a tail swishing behind him.

He's a hybrid, and she can't help but think that his fur looks like it would be soft to the touch.

"Oh my god, I don't want to be here-"

"Stop being a little bitch man-"

"She'll stare at me-"

"Nicki isn't like that-"

"What do you mean 'like that'-"

They were entering the shop as they heard a loud crashing noise from the inside.

Nicki flinched heavily as she turned to the newcomers, smiling with a lot of teeth.

"Sorry Nicki, I'll pick it up! Wilbur I swear to god if you play that song again-" They could hear a voice say from the other room.

"Can I help you?" She asks the fox hybrid, who looks nervous at this point.

"Uh, do you have any muffins?" She smiles in response, Quackity's feathers fluffing happily.

  
...

The villagers suck, she decides. They are rude to every single hybrid that comes to her shop, and she can barely stand it. It's like a tension in between them created by ignorance. She despises racism.

She draws the line when someone harrasses Fundy, the man just now being comfortable coming here, a knight from the royal guard.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave." She says calmly.

"So you're going to serve this fucking animal before me? I knew this place was shit." Nicki wonders how easily it would be to throw the man.

She just rolls her eyes and tells him that if he doesn't get out of her shop, she would call the royal guard. Fundy ears are pulled back, but he looked ready to intervene.

"You have no right to talk to me like that, _woman_ -"

The person yelling, seems absolutely furious, stepping towards her with Fundy stepping forward also, with Nicki stepping in front of him. The man slaps her, and Nicki doesn't even move besides her head turning to the side. She can hear a growl rip the air and assumes it's Fundy.

The thing is, Nicki isn't soft. She can recall glass impaling her hands and rocks digging into her arms, and splinters in her palms. She can't help but laugh when she lifts a hand to her face. 

Tommy hits harder than the full-grown man. The next few things happen fast.

She can hear someone yelling in the background, probably Ranboo, but she doesn't hear as she moves forward, as fast as Techno taught her. 

The man tries to pull back. But she's already got a leg in between his and has hooked a leg to pull him closer. She sends a man a grin as she clocks him in the face. His skin breaking under her knuckles.

She doesn't even have to use her Skill for him to go flying.

She can hear someone laughing, but someone's pulling her shoulder back and looking at her face, but her eyes were on the man on the ground.

"I will tell the King about this! I will fucking report you!"

"Go do that, I'll tell him about how you assaulted me and harassed my customer." The man flinches, but he leaves all the same, still screaming.

Fundy looks at her with something she doesn't recognize, and he leaves without another word.

Quackity doesn't have to ever drag him there again for him to come, and humans come less to her bakery after.

Hybrid's however, deem it as a safe spot.

She likes it better than humans screaming at the people buying cupcakes from her Bakery.

...

There is a tension in the air, and Quackity looks more nervous every time she sees him. The whole city seems to be on edge, she doesn't know what to do about it.

If you even walk into the market, you can hear someone saying something about a Coup d'état in the kingdom. Quackity tells her not to worry about it.

...

Wilbur can only touch his guitar, that just seems to disappear when he does. Ranboo and him become good friends, to her surprise. They fill her bakery with song and cheer. She has no fucking idea where Ranboo even came from, but he likes to braid her hair and buy flowers to put on the cabinet, from some type of sheep-hybrid he says.

Ranboo is funny, in some stupid ways. Almost like Tommy. She likes to think they would get along.

She tells them about Tommy and Technoblade, which spikes Wilbur's interest easily. She leaves out the ghost and mob-hybrid part in her letters, no need to make Techno worry.

...

All of the tension and anger in the air seems to snap about the second month of her residence in the city. The morning is normal at first, if dry.

Then the screaming starts, and it's almost shocking how fast Ranboo hits his back to a wall, tail swishing wildly. 

"Ranboo, I need you to go downstairs." She had a small basement.

"Nicki, I don't-"

"You are a hybrid Ranboo, it's more dangerous for you, get the fuck down stairs." She says as she hears an explosion, tiny tremors shaking the building.

"What about you-"

"I'll be there in a minute." She could barely hear her own voice over the commotion outside. Ranboo stares before running down the stairs. Wilbur tries to stop her from going outside, calling her name and reaching for her but his hand passes through her. She would feel bad if she wasn't high on adrenaline.

When she slams the door open to look outside, all she sees is chaos.

She's hit with the urge to run, and she can barely breathe.

She can smell the smoke of the building in front of hers burning.

She see's people fighting in the streets, cloaked figures attacking civilians and both attacking hybrid's.

It was a battle ground, she's never seen so many people in pain and in misery.

She sees the sheep hybrid who sells flowers being dragged out of her store by the men in cloaks, and she freezes. 

The woman looks so terrified as she screams.

Nicki is moving as soon as they hit the woman, pulling him off and her Skill activates before she thinks about it. He smashes into a falling building, which is causing a dust debris to surround them. It's suffocating, and she watches the man drop the hybrid, and she's grabbing the woman before she can think about it. She's fighting Nicki, and she can smell the dark scent of blood and god knows what fill her nose.

In one terrifying second, she can't breathe and she wishes Technoblade was with her.

In the confusion of the dust cloud, she dragged the woman to her bakery, bumping into people running for their lives and sobbing.

She could barely see the direction of her bakery before it's covered by dust and her eyes start burning.

She feels like she is going to faint when she pulls the sheep hybrid into her building, who gave up fighting entirely.

She slams her door closed so hard she almost falls on her face. She can barely think to run a rag under water as she drags the woman down the stairs. Who was coughing harshly.

Ranboo grabs the woman as soon as she gets down the stairs.

"Puffy!" Nicki didn't know her ears were ringing until he spoke, and she almost screamed.

The door swings open and she can see Ranboo stiffen as she goes to strike whoever had entered without looking, she's never been so terrified in her life.

Whoever it is tackles her, shoulder digging into her stomach, as she shrieks. She can feel the powerful feeling of her skill as she goes to strike whoever attacked her and-

Quackity is talking to her, and she barely realizes it before she cancels her Skill before she hurts him.

"Honey, breath. Oh my god, Techno is going to kill me." Quackity said as he pressed her shoulders into the walls, trying to get her attention and calm her down.

She starts sobbing instead. She can see a human behind Quackity drawing something on the floor. It makes her eyes burn worse.

"Karl do you got it-"

"Yea **h, hold** on!" Karl says as he slams his hands on the ground, a light surrounding them. The human, Karl, as soon as he does it, dry heaves on the ground and collapses, Ranboo leaving Puffy to catch him.

"Okay, Nicki listen to me. Karl is going to stay with you. You need to breathe, the spell he just cast will prevent anyone from entering this building. You can leave though, if something happens you need to run. Karl will protect you, but I have to-"

"Quackity what's going on-"

"Nicki, I have to see if Eret made it out-"

"Oh my god." She hears Puffy say shakily.

"If I don't make it back in a day, Karl will show you where to go," He starts as his friend stands up shakily and grabs his arm.

"Q **uacki** ty g **et t** he fu **ck out of he** re, I got t **his. Be c** are **ful**." Karl says as he stands by him, his voice booming for some reason.

The winged-hybrid nods, and Karl puts a hand to his face and suddenly Quackity's face seems glitched, she can't recognize it.

The human coughs into his hand as soon as he does it, like it's taken a toll on him.

"It'll **only** last a **hour an** d hal **f** so **get going Q** uack." The winged-hybrid puts a hand on her shoulder before he leaves in a flash, his wings flapping as he flew through the door.

Nicki feels her head spin as she wheezes, coughing.

"What the hell is happening?" She hears Ranboo ask. 

Karl stops coughing for a moment with a grim look on his face, trying to hold them back.

**"Th** e C **apitol** has f **allen.** " He says as he sways back and forth like he's about to pass out, Nicki feels her whole body fill with dread.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So:
> 
> 1.How did you like it :DDD?!?!  
> 2.YO, THIS CHAPTER WAS HARD TO WRITE, AH IT WAS LIKE MY PHILOSOPHY PAPER ALL OVER AGAIN,,, i just passed that class with a 93 :D Go me man,,  
> 3\. How are you, how is your day? I hope you all are doing well, even if you're just passing by!  
> 4.ALSO THE LACK OF QUACKITY CONTENT ON AO3 HAS ME DYING LJJKJJK
> 
> so soft technoblade goes brrrrr


	6. kitchen fork - jack conte

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> quackity is not okay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hallo :D, sorry this chapter took so long, I got caught up in writing other stuff!
> 
> Okay, you know what it is:
> 
> CW: *\\\^\\\\*, My bad with this chapter ahaha...
> 
> *Mentioned Child Trafficking, Mentioned Torture, Child Neglect, Mentioned Child Murder, Manipulative Behavior bc Quackity has problems. Panic Attacks, Mind Control  
> *Mentioned Character Death, Mentions of Blood, Trauma, Nightmares, Mentions of Gore, Descriptions of Battle such as the aftermath. 
> 
> If I need to add one, tell me!

_Pick out her heart with a kitchen fork_

_Pin down her arms_

_Wake from the scar, still feelin' sick_

_Where did it get started?_

_Where, oh, where did this come from?_

_Oh my God, my head's a gun_

_Kitchen Fork - Jack Conte_

Quackity was not okay, he was kind of put together when he got here, but now he seems to be falling apart at the seams.

"My mark activated, in the castle Techno." Quackity is curled in on himself. Technoblade stiffens completely, ears plastering to his head, something akin to dread filling him.

They are both sitting in the kitchen, and the kid passed out on the couch in the other room. His wounds weren't that bad, and it was probably his respawns that took a toll on him. Technoblade had poured a Sleepy Healing potion down his throat, so he slept peacefully.

He was a hybrid Quackity said that he could hide his traits when stressed. Some hybrids could, but they were very rare. That the kid had woke up screaming and hidden his wings and antennas when they were flying in pure instinct, he didn't stop until Quackity got him back to sleep again.

He didn't hide his traits fast enough to save himself during the siege.

"You know what that means. It hasn't done that in years-"

"I know Techno-"

"Do you think it was him?"

"Why the fuck would it not be?" Quackity sounds hysterical, and Technoblade was in front of him in an instant.

"Maybe he didn't feel you-"

"You know he did, Technoblade, and I _can't_ do this again. I c _an't go back, I can't go back, I couldn't leave the kid-"_ Quackity's hands were clutched so hard in his hair he could see the knuckles turning white. He was breathing quickly as Technoblade reached for him.

He felt his heart drop when Quackity flinched away from him.

_flinching away, steel bars are digging into his back, the person in front of him hates him, hates him so much he can smell it, feathers flying as he was thrown back in the cage with him, kill him kill him tear his wings to pieces, he doesn't want to do this anymore, he watches the boy flinch away from him and he goes to strike him down, again, again, again, a g ai n_

Technoblade breaks out of the memory that leaves him filled with terror by the sound of Quackity sobbing.

"Quackity, can I touch you?" His voice sounds so alien to him, he feels like his ears are full of cotton, and he wants nothing but to curl in a ball and cry, but his worry for Quackity overrides that. He doesn't want to be here.

_doesn't want to sit there, watch the guards walk down the hall, and hear screaming every time._

_they don't go in techno's cell, he behaves._

"I'm so stupid, Techno. You know what I did?" Quackity was crying so hard that you could barely hear what he was saying with how much he was gasping for air and whining.

"I left them in the city. I know Karl has it covered, and Nicki is strong, but I panicked. I just fucking came straight to you. I didn't even think about it. I just came here, I could've led them to you. " Technoblade's mind flashes images of Nicki getting hurt, but he pushes them down, Nicki will be fine, he trusts whoever Quackity trusts.

It doesn't matter, Quackity is here now, and it won't change anything. He doesn't think Quackity can hear him when he tells him that.

Technoblade has seen Quackity freak out, and he knows that he has to be careful not to make it worse, or the winged hybrid would just spiral.

"Quackity, listen to me, breathe with me." He says, offering his hand, which Quackity stares at with blurry eyes and an unseeing look on his face.

He knew Quackity wasn't here, he was back in a cage. Why does it feel so big in this room? Like they are so small they mean nothing?

_"I don't want, I can't-"_ The winged hybrid fights against him, beating on his chest almost desperately and trying to push him away. Technoblade fights to grab his wrists in a hand, and pull Quackity close to him, the winged hybrid is clawing at him. It's awkward when he wraps an arm around his friend and carries him as the hybrid is still sobbing and fighting him like his life depends on it.

_don't touch me, i'll fucking kill you, don't touch me, the kid screams, curling up in the corner of their shared cell, it has to be uncomfortable with how his wings are bound to the ground_

He hates this, hates it when Quackity gets like this, so out of it and terrified of everything. Technoblade wants to freeze, and he has no idea how to make anything better, Quackity's wings spasming behind him, and he has to dodge them.

He has to push Quackity into the nest he made in Technoblade's chair, holding him down until Quackity's instincts realize where he is, even if his mind doesn't. He stops fighting Techno, and it's like a switch, and he gets whiplash from how fast Quackity's screeching stops. Still staring at the roof like he isn't aware of where he is. 

He's still crying, but when Technoblade goes to pull away, Quackity doesn't let go of him. Quackity is breathing so hard he thinks the hybrid might pass out. His fingers dig into the skin of his arm painfully, but Technoblade doesn't care.

_grabbing his arm digging nails into his arm, reaching up with a blade and he can see it glint in the dull light of the ring as techno gets stabbed through the eye, the pain is sharp, but only for a moment_

_respawn is the true hell, every part of you rebuilding itself and it's the most painful thing the young teenager has ever felt_

_who knew a bird that was prey could fight back, techno is screaming when he respawns, because he never dies, hasn't died in a long time, he's utterly terrified as he materializes. they throw the boy that killed him back in his cage, and they both looked at each other, absolutely horrified but prepared to fight in the only way child soldiers could be._

Technoblade feels the ghosts of almost every person he's killed watch him, as he drags a hand through Quackity's hair to comfort him. Who was silently crying and talking quietly in Spanish, begging for something Technoblade couldn't understand or probably give.

He should check on the kid, but Quackity shows no sign of letting him go, his head now pressed into the fabric of his shirt, shivering as he slowly calms down, giant wings still curled around himself, the tips touching Technoblade's back.

_wings so soft, he wants to touch them instead of ripping them to pieces, it makes him cry, but it's not like anyone would notice, in the darkness in the cell._

When they left the Pit, Quackity's panic attacks had been more constant, and Technoblade's dissociative episodes. They trusted each other, been through hell with each other.

Which was ironic.

Even when you forgive someone, it's hard to forget what they've done to you. The mind is cruel, and it doesn't let you forget. 

It was astounding and completely appalling, the only person who could comfort you in your nightmares was someone who was in them and had caused them.

...

Quackity is face down on his bed wings relaxed, and Technoblade can't sleep. Standing at a counter with his hands on the smooth surface.

His mind is occupied. The mind races with thoughts he can't contain.

He knows what it means, that the mark on Quackity's neck activated. The ringmaster was there, _and Niki was there-_

He has to breathe through his hands. Standing at the kitchen counter where he could keep an eye on both Quackity and the kid.

Technoblade's neck hasn't glown blue with the mark of a slave in years. Quackity's hasn't, either. It was a proximity thing.

The Pit had something to do with the overthrow of Eret's Kingdom, and he was playing farmer.

Now they knew Quackity was there. And Technoblade wasn't there, Quackity could've been kidnapped, could've been sent back.

Now the kingdom has fallen, and he can't think.

He doesn't know what's going to happen to the village, to Tommy's village.

Tommy, Technoblade freezes, _what is he going to do about Tommy?_

"Fuck," Technoblade says as he pressed the heel of his palm into his eyes. He turns around into his room, careful not to wake Quackity.

He wiggles a board loose from the floor and pulls out the chest hidden there.

It was colored a dark green, the color giving him memories of a father, and not that big, maybe as long as his arm. It was an Ender Chest.

When he opens it, there is a hog skull and cape in it, and he thinks briefly of sitting with Quackity in a meadow and laughing with Tommy or sparring with Nicki.

He doesn't hesitate to pull them out of the box.

....

Quackity takes one look at the red cloak he has on before he starts arguing, still looking exhausted. He is sitting on the cabinet, wings behind him dipping.

"No, fuck no. Put that back in your box." He feels bad when he can hear Quackity sound strained.

"You are not leaving without me, I'm coming with you." 

"No, no you _are not-_ "

"You can't even kill someone without breaking down, Feathers! Am I supposed to sit here every time? We were supposed to do this _together-"_

There is a hand on his face, pulling him forward as Quackity look's hard in his eyes, pulling him in between Quackity's knees slightly as he talks to him in an almost cruel way, eyes looking like Quackity wasn't sane.

_hands grab his face, forcing him forward_

"Except we already did, didn't we? Look how that fucking turned out. You can't even say shit about fighting, you lose your absolute shit at the sight of blood."

He knew what Quackity was doing, can see hear it in the way he's talking, the tone. When Quackity feels scared he either shuts down or...

_Loses his shit._

"Quackity, you're doing the thing-" Quackity's eyes were wild, forcing Technoblade to him with a grip he could easily escape, the white wings rising behind him and spreading out.

_wings spread out and the kid flies at him, tackling him to the ground._

"You would fucking do anything I told you, without fucking hesitating. I hate you for that. I would kill for you, wouldn't even think about what it would make me feel like. I would kill someone for you, is that what you want to hear? Why don't you ever do something for yourself-" His voice is cruel, digging into his chest. Technoblade can't breathe, Quackity is almost hyperventilating. 

_the kid isn't breathing straight, he seems to be falling apart, and technoblade wants to scream._

Technoblade is shivering because Quackity looks like a killer, predatory look in his eyes, nails digging into his chin.

"We can't fucking do this, not again. It'll just ruin us, you would die for me again. And you can't handle that. For someone so tough you're like a _little bitch-"_

Quackity looks shocked when Technoblade slapped his hand away from the grip it had on his face and stares at him levelly, the sound echoing in the air. Quackity looks at Techno with horror.

He knows Quackity is just talking, just trying to push Techno away from him.

"I'm not leaving you alone, we can go deal with this together." He watches Quackity tear up and look to the side, his hands clench and unclench. His wings dip behind him.

"I'm sorry, _perdóname Princesa_." Technoblade grabs his hand as Quackity starts crying quietly, not looking Technoblade in the eyes. 

Technoblade just stepped in between his legs and wrapped Quackity around him, his hands at the base of white wings. Quackity's thighs were warm on the outsides of his hips. He brings a hand to start wiping the tears from Quackity's eyes as his friend collapses into him in exhaustion.

"You just started being happy."

"So did you." 

_..._

They sit there, and Quackity tells him about everything that had happened in the past few days. The whispers of hatred sown in the open-mindedness of Eret's beliefs, his tolerance of Hybrids.

"It was a slaughter Technoblade, I'm glad you weren't there. It was like those free for alls we used to have in the Pit. It doesn't surprise me that he was there, it was a fucking feast for the fucker."

He's still carding his hands through feathers, listening to Quackity talk. The piglin hybrid tracing circles on Quackity's back, hands right under his shirt on his lower back.

"Oh my god, please tell me you aren't making out, that would be so embarrassing." Technoblade nearly jumps out of his skin, almost pulling Quackity off the cabinet because of how Quackity has his legs wrapped around him. The kid just stares at them with a wrinkled look on his face.

"Do you want to make out with me, Technoblade?" Quackity asks seriously, pulling Technoblade back in with his legs.

Then his face breaks into a stupid smile, and Technoblade huffs as he unwraps Quackity's legs with his hands.

The winged hybrid started laughing, hitting Technoblade's chest with his hand as Technoblade glares at him. The kid looks like he wants to start crying.

"Okay, no offense Mr. Wings, but where the fuck am I?"

...

The kid was jumpy, and he flinches when Technoblade hands him some fried potatoes. His hands have newly formed scars on them, the kid probably took a beating when they were killing him.

"So... what the fuck are we going do, or are we gonna party all day?" Technoblade said as he changed the bandages on the kid gently, whose antennas had poked out of his hair, but he hadn't said a word, just shielding himself by wrapping arms around himself, sitting in the chair at the corner of the room. His eyes never leaving Technoblade's hands.

Technoblade had to help Quackity with his injuries before, he knows how to be careful and not make any sudden movements. Pausing when he was going to brush against skin, letting the young teenager in front of him be aware of what he was doing. 

"Well, I have to get Nicki back and figure out what the hell happened to Karl and them."

"We."

"What?" Technoblade walks over to him.

"Not I, we."

Quackity doesn't bother answering him, but he does sigh, staring at the ground. Technoblade just sniffs his shoulder and nudges it, and looks outside the window. He doesn't like how quiet the hybrid is.

The kid was frozen to the chair, and Technoblade thinks about what they should do. His cape heavy on his back.

"Promise me you would come back," Technoblade says, turning to face him. "After you go to the city to get Nicki."

Quackity stares, looks at the kid who is unseeing across the room. 

"It's not like you can't find me if I don't."

...

Quackity heads off to god knows where, but he acknowledges that he would come back. He knew it would be a hard couple of days, waiting for him. He was stuck with a kid, which Techno was starting to notice becoming a pattern.

He and the kid just stared at each other from across the room.

"What's your name?"

The kid stares at the wall, hands shaking so hard Technoblade notices.

"Tubbo."

"Huh, nice. I have to go to town, do you, uh." Technoblade kicks at the floor. "Need anything? Or want to come? You would have to deal with a loud child, he haunts me."

Tubbo shakes his head, and Techno has half a mind to not go, the kid looks like he couldn't handle being alone or being by people simultaneously. 

"Come with me." The kid freezes and looks terrified as he presses himself into the chair 

"Please don't, don't make me go, I don't want to go back, they'll find me-"

"Kid, calm down, I'm not taking you to town, I just wanted to show you something." Technoblade says softly, looking at the hyperventilating kid.

The kid doesn't believe him, it's evident with the distrust in his eyes, but he doesn't disagree, taking a moment to hesitantly follow him.

They walk outside, and Tubbo almost brightens as the sun hits him and he's sees the outside world.

He brings the kid to Brick, who looks at him lazily, swishing his tail.

"I don't really need him, to go to the town, it's pretty far, but I can run. I don't need to buy anything that won't weigh me down. Just stay with him for a while, I won't be too long, I promise."

He stares at the horse, who he knows is a slut for people petting him.

"If I'm not, well."

He looks the kid in the eyes.

"Take some food and take care of Brick for me, will you? Though I doubt it would come to that."

The kid's eyes are wide as he walks away, and Technoblade feels something uncomfortable settle in his gut.

That kid is the same age as Tommy, even if Tommy is almost as tall as him because he grows like a fucking tree.

It bothers him.

...

As soon as he walks into the town, he's met with a screaming Tommy.

"Techno, something happened in the city, oh my god Nicki-" Tommy looked like he hadn't slept in days, hysterical.

"Tommy, shhh, Nicki is okay." He says as Tommy starts sobbing, pulling him into the bakery and out of the street.

"Don't fucking tell me that, _everyone has told me that-"_

"Quackity is going to get her Toms, breathe for me, okay?"

Tommy stares at him, and before he can say a word Brich walks in. Technoblade freezes at the serious look on his face.

"Thank the Lord your dumbass is here. Take the kid and get out." Tommy and Techno whipped their heads toward him. Birch sounds severe.

"I don't trust this shit, but I trust you with Tommy, take his shit and get out of here."

"I can't just leave-" Birch just hands Techno the bag in his hands, which was reasonably big, he can feel all sort of stuff in it. Tommy tries to talk, but Birch interrupts him.

"Tommy, listen to me. Go with fuckface, I don't want you to be here if something happens. Get your shit." Tommy looks scared for the first time he got there, and he looks like he wants to argue.

He runs to the inn instead.

Birch turns to him.

"What happened in the Capitol, you weren't here but people have been running through the town for a day and a half, in a panic. It was a shitshow."

Birch pauses, and Techno has never seen him this grim.

"Do you know if Nicki-"

"Quackity was going to get her out, she wasn't hurt too bad." Technoblade said as he grabbed a couple of bags of jerky, trying to hand money to Birch, who just pushed his hand back.

"Don't let Tommy get hurt." And he points to the bag.

"That's a bunch of food and sheets, I can't give you any more. I can't leave because I'm the Champion, you know this. I have to take care of everyone here."

It hit Technoblade then, that he was bringing Tommy with him. Oh fuck, how was he going to react Tubbo? How was he even going to feed him, Techno forgot to eat most of the time.

"Don't let him get hurt."

Technoblade watches Tommy walk back in.

"I won't."

...

Tommy didn't say a word for a few minutes after they walked out of the village, staring back at it once before following the piglin-hybrid.

Then he explodes.

"What even does your house look like? Is it ugly, where is Brick? Why are we walking, can I eat an apple, can you stop making that noise, where the fuck are we going-"

"Tommy, can you shut up, please? Also, you can't bully Tubbo, he's breakable." Technoblade said as he leads Tommy through the forest.

"Who the fuck is Tubbo?"

...

Technoblade has five rooms in his house. The Living room has a table, a couch, and a chair. His kitchen has a long cabinet and an island, the ice-chest, and stove on either side of the cabinets.

He had wooden floors and walls. He had a bathroom, enough said. He had his bedroom, with his dresser, bed, and Quackity's nest chair.

Techno had a room for Quackity, but the man never used it. So he just stuffed Tommy in there as he went to go look for Tubbo.

"Okay, I have to talk to him first, make yourself at home, I guess."

"Wait, there is really a person here, why didn't you tell me?" He just rolls his eyes and closes the door behind him, eyes trailing across his farm for a sign of the missing kid.

Techno hopes he didn't run, it would take forever for him to run through the forest.

He just goes to where he left the kid, in the small barn, and is surprised to find him there.

His wings weren't as big as Quackity's and they looked like they would fall apart if he touched them. They were translucent at some parts and the pattern of them like veins and a net.

"Oh, you're a bee." The kid almost jumps a foot scurrying behind Brick.

"Am I wrong?" Technoblade says as the kid just looks to the side. He doesn't answer, not that Techno expected him to.

He just stands there, almost two feet taller than the kid, who was trailing a hand through Brick's fur.

"Well, Tommy is here now, so I'm going to go ahead and apologize for that. Good luck, he's like a virus. He grows on you, and you can get rid of him sometimes by killing him but he always comes back."

Tubbo has a small smile at Techno's joking tone.

"I'm sure he's fine." His voice is scratchy, and it's the first time he's heard since when the kid first woke up.

"You don't know Tommy."

...

"Big T, where the hell did you kidnap the kid from?"

"Why do you assume I did it?"

"Oh, so Quackity kidnapped him, nice. My name's Tommy, I'm the coolest person you will ever meet."

Tommy pauses for a moment.

"Wait, why the fuck are you here? HOLY SHIT, YOUR WINGS LOOK COOL-"

...

He watches Tommy touch the kid's antennae in awe, Tubbo looking so shocked at someone being happy to see his hybrid features, and he feels almost impossibly proud of him. 

...

Technoblade waits to meet Quackity every day, Tommy and Tubbo playing and talking in a little area by the river next to him, sometimes making him play tag with them.

He forgot Tommy was such a little shit.

They hit it off with each other so fast it makes his head spin. He doesn't understand teenagers. It only takes the kid an hour to come out of his shell.

Tommy drags Tubbo everywhere, who just follows him around like a puppy. 

It's been three days since Quackity left, and Technoblade waits. He always has waited for Quackity.

...

When Quackity appears, Techno is throwing a screeching Tommy over his shoulder and has Tubbo picked up by the color. The piglin hybrid had enough of them pulling his hair. He turns around and has a group of eyes on him. 

His eyes slide through the small crowd, looking for threats, and he lights up when he sees someone he hasn't seen in months. There were at least ten people in the clearing now, even more.

"Nicki! Holy fuck balls, Technoblade let me go!" Tommy says as he starts fighting against Techno, who has no trouble holding him.

"Tubbo, Quack said he got you, but I almost didn't think he did, are you okay? I couldn't find you-" 

"Techno! Tommy! I missed you all so much!"

"Who's the guy with pink hair?"

"Man, can that kid shut the literal fuck up I'm getting a headache."

"Techno if you don't let me go I will bite you."

Then it was a mix of voices, multiple people talking at once as Technoblade analyzed the group. They all looked tired, the sheep hybrid has a wicked black eye and the human on the back of a creeper-hybrid looks halfway to the grave.

The man in green and that has a mask on his face looks deadly, ready to strike at Techno at any moment.

"How many people did you bring to my house Quackity? I already babysitting two I don't need anymore."

He lets the kids go, deciding that if the people were really dangerous, Tubbo wouldn't like them, and Quackity wouldn't bring them. He watches Tommy slam into Nicki and Tubbo talk avidly to the hybrid with red ears sticking out of his orange hair.

Then he sees the man in a royal coat, even if it has a tear in it, eyes white and blank, though he knows he isn't blind.

"Please don't tell me that guy the part of the Royal Family." The man doesn't even bother to react besides bowing. The fox-hybrid beside him bares his teeth when Techno looks too long and the man in the green hoodie on his other side lets a hand land on his sword.

He just raises his eyebrows and shrugs, he can take a hint.

"They/them pronouns, please." Technoblade blinks, okay he can roll with that. Who knew the King would even talk to him.

"My bad, Tech, I didn't mean to bring a parade." Quackity says as he walks by a creeper-hybrid with a person on his back, who looks exhausted.

Technoblade feels his anxiety spike, there are too many people he has to watch at the same time.

His eyes meet another hybrid, who is chalk white and black at the same time, almost split in half, his hair multicolored but separated linearly.

His whole body tenses, he can feel his lips pull back in a quick snarl as the enderman-hybrid meets his eyes. Enderman hybrids don't meet your eyes unless they want to challenge you, he's met many in the Pit, usually shorter. The growl is mostly soft compared to one he could really do, it's more just to exist than to be actually threatening, but he doesn't think the kid knows that.

Ranboo screeched, pulling away from Techno, and then bowing his head in submission. It pleased the protective instincts inside him. He feels kind of bad when the kid looks actually scared. Everyone else in the group looks confused about what was going on, the other mob-hybrid green man raising his eyebrows at both at them.

Why did the kid look so confused? He was the one who initiated-

_Don't tell me this kid doesn't know what the fuck he's doing._

"Oh, you've never met any other mob-hybrids besides creeper guy, well don't initiate dominance with someone you idiot." Technoblade said as he awkwardly pats the kid on the head, looking at the other people around him. Technoblade feels shocked as the guy warps through his hand, and just decides to ignore it.

The young hybrid looked confused, and Nicki was in his face upset at him in an instant.

"Techno back the fuck up, that is Ranboo, he is my _friend,_ stop doing your _stupid_ growling thing _right now, or I will throw you-"_

"It's not my fault, he started it-" Technoblade said as Ranboo was still emitting a high pitched whine, but he looked more embarrassed than horrified.

"I will kick you-" Nicki starts and the man with the mask stands down as the guy with blank eyes motions him to.

He grabs Nicki's arm instead, sniffing her as he looked at the scratches on her palms with a frown, Nicki smiles as she pulls him into a hug.

"Great Techno, you scared the puffy tailed kid. Good job." Quackity says, smiling at Technoblade.

He looked better, better than he did days ago.

"So heh, can we crash at your place?" 

"Please don't tell me, you are making my house a safe point. I didn't do the dishes."

"Don't worry, I did the dishes before we left." Tommy says as he looks at the tall teenager who was still not meeting Techno's gaze, the enderman-hybrid looking like he wanted the ground to swallow him as Tommy inspected him.

"Anywho, what's with the party? You know it makes Big T nervous to be by people." The blonde teenager says as he picks up Bricks' lead, glaring at all of them. Tubbo was talking excitedly to the ex-king and hybrid stuck to his side.

"I want to take a bath." The sheep hybrid says, and her white wool was rather dirty, Techno even sees blood in it. He wonders if it's hers as she sneers at the ground.

"I think we all do." The fox-hybrid says as he sniffs his hand, wrinkling his nose. Tubbo giggles.

"You trust 'em Feathers?" 

"Yeah, except Mc. Fucking Happy Face over there." Said man stiffens at his mention and whips his head Quackity.

"He's with me, it's fine." The ex-King says, looking at Technoblade with a level look.

"Didn't the person he guards betray you?" The sheep hybrid says, picking at her hands, which have black nails and a little bit of fur on the wrist. Throwing a torn bracelet she has into the river beside them.

"Doesn't matter now." The man in the royal cloak says, waving a dismissive hand.

"You got to lose that." Technoblade says, pointing at the cloak. "It's a dead giveaway."

"I would rather die than look like trash."

Technoblade was getting a headache, wishing that Tommy wasn't laughing in the background.

...

"So you are Quackity's girlfriend?" The human with the colorful hoodie asks as they walk, looking tired on the creeper-hybrid's back.

_"I told you not to call him that-"_

"You are dating?" Nicki says accusingly, Technoblade pinches his nose.

"No." He says as he looks wickedly at his winged friend.

Technoblade is glaring daggers at Quackity, who jerks so fast away from Technoblade as he shrieks, Tommy laughing.

"Wait, they might be onto something Techno-"

...

It was still anxious as they walked to Technoblade's house, a group of mix-matched individuals, Technoblade looking over Nicki's every move, looking at her for injuries she would have hidden, and he knows her.

"So...you are the king?" Tommy's voice sounds loud in the awkward silence they have made, with Quackity filling it up with small talk.

The creeper hybrid hisses when Carl gets near him, but Techno thinks it's a happy hiss, so he leaves it alone. He doesn't get creepers.

"I was." The fox-hybrid by the Ex-King stiffens and looks at Tommy in a way that makes Technoblade straighten right back. Tommy is oblivious, as always. Eret's eyes look blank.

"Sounds pretty dumb, not going to lie. You look kind of stupid." Half of the group looks like they can't believe what the teenager just said. Sam trips and almost falls over with Karl on his back.

"Oh my god, Tommy, you can't say that." Quackity says, muffled from Technoblade nudging his face, trying to dispel the tension in his body with the action.

"I can say whatever I want, and you look rather shitty mister royal fucker." Tommy just goes on, with as much chill as he always has, Eret is nonplussed. The man in the green hoodie is wheezing airly, hand to his chest as he tries not to laugh. Tubbo is hitting Tommy's arm in a desperate attempt to get him to shut up.

Leave it up to Tommy to make everyone not want to murder each other by being a rude bitch.

Technoblade grins at Tommy.

"Tommy chill, he's already taken an L, you don't have to destroy him." Tommy deflates at Techno's tone.

"Techno-" Tommy starts before Techno shushes him.

"He's Quackity's friend." The teenager instantly changes paces, looking at Eret guilty, he deflates and hangs his head. The man with red fluffy ears laughs into his hands.

"Oh, my bad, weird guy."

"That's the important deal? Not that _I was a King-"_

...

"Quackity why are there so many people in my house, why is the King in my house? These are fugitives. I don't even know this many people." The creeper hybrid that has been quiet snorts, grabbing some carrots from his ice-chest and munching on them.

"Look, he's eating my carrots, do I look like someone who gives a fuck about charity? Get out of my house, all of you."

Tommy flips him off as he talks to Ranboo, who is getting included in his and Tubbo's dynamic faster than he thought they would. Nicki by their side with the paranoid looking sheep hybrid.

"I'm being ridiculed." He watches the fox-hybrid look under his couch, and he gets the distinct urge to just leave his own house.

"Don't be like that, think about this as an opportunity to make friends." The guy in the green hoodie said as he said on his kitchen table.

He knocks over a vase, which was empty mind you, and it makes Techno jump and glare at him.

"I hate it here." Technoblade said as the sheep hybrid sniffed him curiously, he leans in to sniff her head to not be rude in return, she smells like flowers. She just looks at him and shrugs, going back to Nicki's side. Quackity's human friend is just asleep on the couch and rolls over from all the noise.

Technoblade is almost nervous.

"Where are you'll even going to stay?"

Tommy's eyes light up.

"We can have a fucking sleepover! Oh my god, we can fuck some bitches up!" 

Technoblade is doomed.

...

They all stand around Technoblade's small kitchen table, and it's almost comical.

"So... why is there like twenty people at my house?"

"Well, Nicki wasn't going to leave Ranboo, Ranboo wasn't going to leave Puffy, Sam was getting the hell out of there, Karl was already coming, and then Fundy and Eret showed up. Then this fire dude popped up with George, who's on our side as a spy, and Dream beat him up. And then George was all like 'im so sorry forgive me owo, i didn't mean for this to happen, dream will help you and i will to' Then we came here." Quackity starts to ramble, wings flickering behind him.

"I, okay? Someone who isn't Quackity repeat that."

...

Nicki and the kids are playing cards in the living room, sitting around the coffee table he has. Tommy is leaning into Tubbo without a thought, trying to look at the younger's cards, whose wings flap nervously at the action and pretends he doesn't notice.

The sheep hybrid is in his garden, he hasn't seen her in hours. He wouldn't be surprised if she ditched them.

Karl, Quackity tells him his name because no one else bothers to, the dude is half-dead most of the time, is sitting on the counter in his kitchen, watching everything around him.

Eret is talking with Fundy and Dream at the kitchen table, not that he gives a shit. They would have to tell him what they were planning eventually, or Quackity would.

Sam is eating food and reading one of Techno's books, the guy is nonplussed by Techno's glares. Technoblade is losing his touch.

He doesn't know when his house had become a group home. He just drags a tired Quackity to the couch and ignores his issues.

He stops paying attention after a while, letting the world fade.

Technoblade let his hands trail through Quackity's hair, slowly and mechanically. Quackity is a puddle in his lap, melted against him on the couch. He looks so much better than he did a few days ago, and it calms Techno's nerves more than it should.

Technoblade was laying down, slightly sitting up on the edge of the couch, Quackity in between his legs and leaning into his chest.

It's not like any of the people around them are watching, and he lets himself fade into Quackity, a mix of warm and legs crossed to the point he doesn't know where his end, wings sitting almost gentle spread out, Techno has a hand running through them like an afterthought.

He can feel the rise and fall of Quackity's chest. Hear the soft breathing of the winged hybrid. 

Quackity lets out a soft chirp, which Techno smiles at.

He doesn't notice the teenagers stop and stare when he grunts noiselessly at Quackity in answer, their jaws dropped. They wave to get Fundy's attention when Quackity chirps again, and Techno answers with another soft grunt. 

Eret is hitting Dream, aggressively whispering at him to shut up, as the teenager is almost choking himself to not start laughing. Karl is cooing at them. Technoblade doesn't see it though, he's intent on burying himself in Quackity's hair. 

Quackity is in cuddle mode, dead to the outside world, and just pulls up to nestle closer into Technoblade's neck. When he settles, Technoblade lets his hands smooth over feathers. Quackity chirps a few more times into the skin of Techno's neck and Techno just nudges him, the affectionate move being returned by Quackity bumping him with his cheek even though he's pretty much asleep.

Technoblade doesn't even bother to open his eyes, with how warm he feels.

Quackity hums into his neck, and he laughs as it tickles. He snaps out of the haze when he hears someone gasp. He lets his eyes focus on the room, still drowsy.

_Why the fuck is everyone staring at him?_

Technoblade can feel his face turn hot as everyone in the room looked at them.

"That's sweet," Eret says, crossing their legs as they look over at Techno and Quackity with their blank eyes, unsettlingly as ever. Quackity is asleep at this point, despite the noise.

"That's so domestic it's disgusting." Tommy says as he grabs an apple from the bowl in the kitchen. Passing by Dream, who just starts cackling and Eret huffs and rolls their eyes. Tubbo is giggling and looks at Ranboo's cards when the mob-hybrid isn't looking.

The kid only flinches mildly when Ranboo pats him on the head, he thinks being by others is good for him.

Nicki is smiling warmly at the piglin-hybrid, and she punches Dream in the shoulder as she passes by, and he almost falls over, making an appalling sound. Fundy barely catches him.

"Why do you punch so hard? That's not fair-"

"Nah, that some little bitch talk right there D-man-"

"I wish Wilbur was here." He could hear Ranboo say before he started telling Tubbo about him. Did he _just say ghost-_

Technoblade just shuts down and goes back to ignoring the world, he doesn't even want to know what that was about.

...

"Technoblade, I'm dreaming about a woman." Nicki says to him, pulling him to the side. Everyone else is discussing dinner in the kitchen, making an abomination of dishes.

"I, uh, okay? Would you prefer to talk to Quackity about this? I don't know crap about dreams." He watches Tommy put an orange slice in boiling potatoes and wants to kill himself.

"No Technoblade, I don't think it's..." She trails off, looking nervous.

Technoblade freezes at her blushing face.

"I, uh, it's not wrong to like women, you can like whoever you want-"

"No! Stop, that's not it!" Technoblade squeaks when Nicki hits on his chest in embarrassment.

"Someone is in my dreams."

Technoblade raised an eyebrow.

"I think someone is stalking me." That makes Technoblade sit up straight and look Nicki in the eyes.

"Are you sure? What are they doing?" He says evenly, seeing Nicki smile at him.

"Oh, it's okay, she's cool. She just told me to tell someone." Technoblade stares at Nicki, feeling conflicted and then stared at the ground.

"She told you to tell someone that she was stalking you."

" _Yes,_ well, kind of."

"I mean, do you want to do anything about it?"

"Actually, no, I just wanted to tell you that there was this weird chick in my dreams, so if I get possessed, you would know who it was."

Technoblade is confused.

"So you don't care about it?"

"Nah, it's fine. She has horns though and she's loud. She calls me Sugar Cookie." She smiles warmly. "Anyway, thanks for listening to me, Techno."

Technoblade feels a headache appear as she walks away. She looks better since the Capitol, but _what the fuck_.

He hears screeching as Ranboo hits Karl, who was trying to grab cookies that were just pulled out of the oven, with Puffy having to almost dance around them to stir the macaroni. 

"Man, I don't know why I came with you idiots." The creeper-man says as he eats the rest of Techno's carrots.

...

"I think we wouldn't have had enough food if Technoblade wasn't such a paranoid motherfucker, what are you trying to feed, an army? Jesus fuck." Tommy says as he eats some of the macaroni straight from the pot.

He opens the ice-chest and ignores how they were proven right by the fact he did have a shit load of food.

"I am perfectly fine, thank you very much, eat your macaroni, you bitch child." Tommy sputtered, and you could hear him literally turn red.

...

"So wait, how long are you all staying?" The piglin-hybrid said.

"Huh, I didn't even think that far. We have to first get power on our side."

"Don't we literally have a King?" He was ignored as they kept talking.

"Isn't the Pit the one behind this? And George's dad? How are we going against that?" Quackity said as he leaned back on Technoblade's legs, and Technoblade picks a loose feather he sees gently on his wing.

"What do you mean, the Pit?" Puffy asks, she had just taken a shower, and her hair was at least double the velocity it was earlier, Technoblade was half tempted to touch the puffy wool.

Quackity watched the kids through the opening of the kitchen, laughing about stupid things while the adults, they were all young, sat and discussed what they needed to.

"The Underground, The Fights, others call it the slave trade." Quackity's voice was harsh. "It's a chain of people, connections, run by a man. It's like a Championship, but none of the people are willing participants. It's sickening. Hybrids are usually thrown in cages to fight for other people's entertainment." Fundy looks sick, and Technoblade grips Quackity's shoulder. 

The two hybrids are sitting with Karl and Sam on the couch, Karl has his arms wrapped around his knees.

Karl, speaks next, almost hesitantly.

"We do have someone, someone who is on our side, in the underground." Technoblade can feel Quackity flinch and his feathers puff up.

"No, I swear, I hate that asshole-"

"He runs some of the shady shit, but he's a good guy, mostly. He is uh," Karl pauses and threads his hands together nervously. "He's a dick, but heh, it's fine."

"I don't want my kingdom back." Technoblade's eyes snap to Eret.

"They overthrew me because they thought I was wrong, they thought they could. Maybe I was, but we have to take down the guy who is tearing my kingdom apart." They all watch Eret stand and bow before them.

"My Liege, don't-" Fundy starts, before Eret starts speaking.

"I am sincerely sorry for everything, I told my citizens that they could be safe in my land, whether they were a hybrid or not. And, I guess I lied, didn't I? For that, I apologize. And I will not stop until it is, no matter what happens."

As they speak, Technoblade can see why Quackity liked him.

"Me and Quackity will help you, but if Tommy and Nicki or Quackity are in trouble, I'm out." He says solidly, feeling Quackity look up at him.

"Don't act like you could stop me from doing what I wanted." Technoblade huffs in response, pushed Quackity's head back down as he talks.

"I'm in, the assholes burned down my flower shop, it's not like I can go back anyway. I'm not really uh, good at anything though." The sheep hybrid said, sitting on the floor and leaning on the table.

"I was sworn to you, it doesn't change now." Fundy says as he pulls Eret back up.

"You all don't have to-"

"You know I'm with you." Dream says as he tilts back on the chair and leans on his elbows.

"I'm with Q." Karl says, and they look at Sam expectantly.

"Don't expect me to join your suicide mission, but I can help. I'm still mad about the fact that they destroyed my shit. You know how long it takes to get Redstone and make a fucking door?"

Eret looks overwhelmed, and Techno can see how tired they are since the first moment they got here.

"I, thank you. I am at every single one of you's service."

...

"How the hell are we sleeping? I don't even have more than three beds. You are all on your own."

Tommy lights up like a light, grabs Tubbo and Nicki's hands as he motions for Ranboo to follow him. The enderman hybrid trips over his own feet and glitches through the wall. Technoblade literally wants to scream when everyone ignores it, he feels like he's going insane.

"We call the living room." Tommy yells as Technoblade watches them leave the room, eager to leave with them because he's tired of people.

"Well, that leaves three beds and a chair," Quackity said amusingly.

"And eight adults." Karl says absentmindedly, looking tired even though he just took a nap.

"Seven, I have my chair." Quackity says dramatically.

"Me and Fundy can share a bed." Eret says, more relaxed after the talk they had.

"I have a sleeping bag." Dream took a cookie from the plate as he said this.

"Okay four adults and two beds, look at us, on a roll." Technoblade said gruffly, looking over at the sheep hybrid who looked stressed at the idea of sharing a bed with someone.

"Let me change the sheets, and Puffy get's my bed if she wants it. I can sleep with Feathers."

"Did you call Quackity Feathers?" Technoblade rolls his shoulders back and ignores Karl's question to turn to Sam.

"Will you and Karl be okay sharing a bed, I have blankets if you want to make a pallet-"

"It's fine. Sam, oh my god _, we could cuddle."_

Sam hisses at Karl while the man laughs and tries to grab him.

...

Despite how cheerful the evening and the couple after are, it doesn't erase the fear and tension in the air.

It's relevant when Tubbo starts screaming in his sleep. Nicki shaking him awake and wrapping him in a hug even though she hasn't even known him a day, speaking softly as she rocks him. Tommy on his other side. 

Everyone shot awake, Dream having pulled his sword out and looking comical and deadly at the same time half-asleep, Puffy had a spooked enderman-hybrid clutching to her arm.

Eret was standing, an unreadable look on their face, they had a hand in front of nervous Fundy, whose eyes were on Techno.

Technoblade had shot out of his room, crouching in front of his kids as they calmed Tubbo down, growling when Sam had reached a hand out to Tubbo in pure instinct. He could see Dream fall into a stance, prepared for him to attack, and Technoblade was half assured he was going to.

For a few seconds, it was as tense as a battlefield, even though they were all on the same side.

Quackity slapped the back of his head, disrupting the tense atmosphere.

"Stop that shit, and we don't need the drama. Dream put the sword away before Techno grabs it and starts swinging, Nicki go take Tubbo for a walk, and everyone else go back to sleep, we have shit to do tomorrow." Quackity says, and it just sounds flat. He doesn't like being woken up.

Everyone stared at him, and surprisingly no one said anything, even Tommy, who was watching Tubbo walk out with a worried look on his face.

Sam was the first person to turn over in his bed that they had pulled into the living room to share with Karl, hissing softly. Dream put his sword away, but he sat closer to Eret, eyes now on Techno. Fundy's tail was still poofed, and he started mumbling to Dream, eyes still dilated.

Quackity drags Karl into his nest when he realizes Techno wasn't going back. It's a subtle move about the trust he feels for the human, and Techno catches it.

Technoblade doesn't go back to sleep, he sits in the kitchen instead and pretends he doesn't feel the gaze of Dream on him.

For some reason, it felt inhuman.

...

A group of mixed matched people sleeps in the house of the killer, and a revolution is born from it.

...

Miles away, other people are on the move, just as stressed.

The people had traveled for days, as soon as they had heard the destruction of the kingdom.

Humans are screaming around them when they arrive.

The group arrives in a half-destroyed city, looking at the carnage and destruction that only happened a week ago.

Looking at the buildings burned or standing around them, civilians standing in the destruction, not knowing what to do.

There wasn't a Hybrid in sight. 

"So horrible," The leader started, shifting his coat behind him as he landed on the ground, pulling his wings close to him. Looking at the destroyed city around them, once his fellow King's beautiful kingdom.

Eret would be horrified, and he spent so much time building the pavement, destroyed around them.

The other man, the oldest with a bucket hat, settled to the ground, his black wings flaring out as he stepped over a lamp post. A grim look settled on his face as he glared at a guard looking at them.

At least they could tell when to leave certain people alone.

"We already knew the person who took over Eret's kingdom was cruel, but this..." The third man said, who had run below his flying companions, deactivating his Skill, one to do with speed, as he stood beside them. He wore a suit matching the light blue of his skin, shining off every light, like diamonds. Inhuman.

"He just wants destruction. He wants people to die." The leader said, his hood hiding the disgusted look on his face, unlike his usually kind and patient attitude, his horns sticking out of his hood.

"Good thing we didn't bring Ant because I heard they were slaughtering hybrids at sight." The oldest said as he helped someone up, a woman who had tripped in front of him. The woman just looked at him, terrified as she ran out of sight.

"We should kill him, and you know we could Bad." The blue man said as he stepped forward, ignoring the disgusting mess on the ground.

"Skeppy shush." The horned man said softly as he looked in a direction to his left.

"You feel it, too?" The blonde man said as he waved his hands, his wings vanishing with particles flowing in the air. His hand falling on his sword on his hip as they walked forward.

"It's one of us, Skeppy." Bad says as he goes to the source of energy, ignoring the fact they were supposed to meet a king.

"Oh, is he dead? I think I feel him." Skeppy said as he squinted in the direction.

They walked for a longer time, feeling the energy get closer.

"Yep, definitely dead." The blonde man said, walking forward as he motions Bad to stay back as he walks to the building.

It looks like a bakery. 

Before he can walk further, a figure appears in the doorway.

"Go away." It's soft, and the man with a bucket hat almost melts, it was just a soft ghost, almost faded. His energy was so miserable and conflicted.

It's threaded with corruption.

"You poor thing," Bad said as he walked closer, not hesitating like the older man. "You want to leave, but you can't." He grabs the ghost's face gently, and the ghost's eyes are wide.

No one had probably touched him in years.

The ghost freezes and is shocked. He shakes, and he almost pulls away from Bad. Looks wildly at the building behind him.

"No one can touch you, can they?" Bad purrs, his horns growing longer.

"D-don't patronize me." The voice that comes out of the ghost is quiet, and Bad feels bad, he should've felt him sooner.

"Do you want me to give you the ability to? I can leave you alone if you want, you little muffin." The man was terrifying, but he sounded so kind.

The ghost stares at him, and then at the bakery. He then looked down. The ghosts' gaze lands on a disc shattered on the floor.

"I-I want to see my friends," The grip on his wrist tightens, and Badboyhalo smiles, this he can work with.

"Then, let's get to it." He says as he grabs the ghost's hand, and presses his face into it, breathes life into his palm.

**[Skill Activated: Blessing Of the Damned]**

A ghost of a fallen kingdom that night gets a blessing from a King, and becomes human again, 

_or sort of._

_..._

_There are humans in this world._

_There are hybrids._

_And there are people who fit neither of those categories._

_Demons, Angels, The Stone, and_

_Ghosts._

_Most of them live in the Badlands, where nothing else dares to._

...

"Phil, let's take him with us." The King said as his horns met together in a halo look above his head, an effect of his Skill.

The blonde man, with his bucket head, looks at the sky with stars hanging above them, and he wonders if his son-

_he doesn't think about it_

"Of course, my liege." He picks up the man who's melting in Bad's arms, able to touch his skin even though it didn't feel there, light and easy to carry in his arms.

...

"Oh, Sapie, can you feel them? They're making a detour, but I can feel them in my city." The man on the throne grins cruelly dragging his hand on the arm of the gold throne, nails blood red.

There was a torn flag above him, and he rips it down without a thought, not even bothering to get up.

"Go fetch me George, why don't you? Dream as well, we have guests." 

The person standing stiffly behind unnaturally stood straighter, walking forward at a perfect pace forward, his neck glowing blue. 

"Yes, sir." The teenager says, not in control of his body, but used to it nevertheless. Anger pooling in his gut that was familiar. There is something about having no control, teaches you to have it.

_One day,_ Sapnap thought _, I will burn you alive._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HIII THIS WAS SO LONG, HOW ARE YA'LL ??
> 
> Okay also, I can't wait to write Sapnap actually speaking, so I can give him an accent, bc fuck yes. I'll project mine on him, w a t c h me
> 
> 1\. What was your favorite part? Give me details, or yell at me, I dare you to.  
> 2\. Did you like the little bit at the end? Want to guess what the hell is going on :D? Big hint, the new 'king' is an oc, bc i like all the people in the smp too much to make anyone the dick character lmao, also the woman in Nicki's dreams actually is important, anyone wanna guess who it is? >:D  
> 3\. I also tried to show that Techno and Quackity's friendship isn't actually too healthy, they have both gone through a lot and deal with it in their own ways, nevertheless they will still do anything for each other, even if it hurts themselves and others.  
> 4\. Not me ignoring how much Quackity hates Techno in the latest streams for the smp lmao,,, don't REMIND ME OKAY I REALIZE


End file.
